Ben Cowles
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ITALY’S far-right government is causing further harm to already traumatised people, human rights campaigners said today as 250 people aboard two civilian-operated rescue ships waited for the fourth day for their rights to be respected.
The Humanity 1 and Geo Barents, which saved the lives of 180 and 576 people respectively in the central Mediterranean between October 23 and 29, received permission on Saturday to dock in the Sicilian port of Catania.
However, the authorities only allowed women, children and those deemed to be sick or injured to come ashore.
That left 35 people aboard the Humanity 1 and 215 on the Geo Barents.
On Sunday, the authorities ordered both vessels to leave port and seek help elsewhere. But the captains refused, citing their legal duty to disembark all survivors in a safe port.
SOS Humanity, the organisation operating the Humanity 1, began legal action against the Italian government on Monday.
Doctors Without Borders, which runs the Geo Barents, said today that some of the people in its care have gone on hunger strike.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) joined calls by the United Nations refugee agency, the International Organisation for Migration, Amnesty International and many more for the Italian authorities to allow everyone off the ships.
“The government’s actions cruelly expose survivors of abuse in Libya to potential further harm and deny them their right to seek asylum in defiance of Italian and international law,” said HRW Europe and central Asia researcher Giulia Tranchina.
“No-one should be deliberately exposed to degrading conditions and everyone should be allowed to disembark and have their claims for international protection fairly processed.”
Meanwhile, another rescue ship, the Ocean Viking — currently carrying 234 survivors, 18 days after its first rescue — declared a humanitarian emergency.
“Some survivors have begun expressing intentions to jump overboard out of despair,” the charity’s director of operations Xavier Lauth said.
The crew has called on France to provide them with a port and said that they expect the Ocean Viking to arrive off the French island of Corsica on Thursday.
