Human Rights At Sea Chief Dunja Mijatovic is worried about the Italian Government’s decision against NGOs that rescue migrants in the Mediterranean. The commissioner also urged all EU states to ‘suspend all collaboration‘ with Libya.
She specifically told ANSA that migrants saved from the sea ‘should never be disembarked in Libya because the facts show that it is not a safe country”. Mijatovic said she is “worried about the Italian government’s attitude towards NGOs that conduct rescue operations in the Mediterranean.’
One of the 35 recommendations Chief Mijatovic presented in her document to Council of Europe member states was that she called all EU members to cut off collaboration with Libya until proven that human rights of those disembarked on its coasts are not violated.
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Her call follows Italy’s decision according to which the NGO ship, Sea Watch 3, that rescued 53 migrants off Libya last week, has been in the middle of the sea for six days, at the edge of Italian territorial waters about 16 miles off the coast of Lampedusa.
Thus, Chief Mijatovic noted
(the ship) should be quickly assigned a safe port that can be reached rapidly.
Meanwhile, in her recommendations she also highlighted the importance and responsibility of search and rescue operations, disembarkations, and reception of those rescued must be divided between all EU member states, not just coastal ones.
I am seriously worried about impact some parts of the second security decree could have on the lives of people who need to be saved at sea.
