Ben Cowles
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THE captain of an NGO rescue ship, currently at sea and preparing to disembark 40 migrants onto the Italian island of Lampedusa, said “the law is definitely on my side” today.
The Sea Watch 3 — operated by the German charity Sea Watch — rescued 53 migrants off the coast of Libya on June 12.
After refusing to return them to Tripoli, as the EU-funded Libyan Coast Guard ordered them to do, the ship set sail for what the crew consider the nearest port of safety.
Sixteen days since the rescue, 13 survivors had been evacuated to Italy on medical grounds.
No European country has offered a safe port to the ship.
In a desperate attempt to prevent the Sea Watch 3 crew from bringing the survivors to Italy, far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini introduced a new law on June 15 which seeks to fine NGOs up to €50,000 (£44,805) for disembarking migrants on Italian shores without permission.
Speaking to journalists in Rome via livestream video from the deck of the Sea Watch 3, ship captain Carola Rackete said returning the migrants to Libya was out of the question. She suggested that Italy should therefore have provided a safe port.
The captain speaks.#CarolaRackete #SeaWatch3 pic.twitter.com/EFjTYA6YXS
— Sea-Watch International (@seawatch_intl) June 28, 2019
“I would be breaking the Geneva Convention if I brought people there because I am sure they would suffer further human rights abuses. So the law is definitely on my side.
“We all know there’s a civil war going on in Libya. I’m fairly sure the Italian court will recognise that the International Law of the Sea is much more important and the right of the people to their safety and their lives, obviously and indisputably, is more important than Italy’s right to its territorial waters.”
Ms Rackete said the ship had enough food and water but that the main problems on board were psychological.
“They’re all suffering from psychological problems, such as flashbacks from their previous experiences. The necessity to go into port is to prevent any harm or any self harm which people might be contemplating.”
Asked what she thought of Salvini’s attempts to demonise her and Sea Watch, Ms Rakete said she didn’t have time to think about it.
“I’ve had 42 people to take care of. The concerns about these people have kept me busy day and night, I can assure you.”
