ROME, July 20, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The decision by Italy’s new populist
government to close the country’s ports to migrants saved at sea is causing
unease within the heart of the Italian coastguard, some staff say, who until
recently played a key role in rescue missions.
Over the last decade the coastguard has coordinated the rescue of hundreds
of thousands of migrants off the coast of Libya, in many cases pulling them
from the water themselves in treacherous conditions.
But as of June, they have been ordered to transfer calls for help and
reports of boats in distress to the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Now — despite a culture of traditionally not criticising government policy
— a handful of coastguard staff have spoken out.
In an interview with Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore last week, a coastguard
admiral criticised the government and in particular far-right interior
minister Matteo Salvini’s new hardline stance.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the admiral recalled that the Italian
justice system had deemed Libya was not a “safe place” for rescued people to
returned to.
Many migrants trying to reach Europe are desperate not to go back to Libya
as they potentially face abuse and rape in detention centres.
The admiral also denounced the absence of an official decree or act
regarding the decision to close the country’s ports to vessels carrying
migrants.
In recent weeks the policy has left the coastguard powerless as several
ships with rescued migrants aboard spent days stranded in the Mediterranean
unable to dock in Italy.
On Wednesday, at an event marking the 153rd anniversary of the Italian
Coastguard, admiral Giovanni Pettorino, coastguard commander, evoked the
memory of Salvatore Todaro, a submariner who during WW2 took serious risks to
rescue the survivors of a ship he had just sunk.
“In times of war, these things are not done,” a German admiral is said to
have told Todaro at the time.
The coastguard commander concluded his speech given before Italy’s new
political authorities, by recalling Todaro’s response: “We are Italian
sailors. We have 2000 years of civility behind us and we do these things.”
– ‘Feeling of helplessness’ –
Speaking anonymously to Catholic daily Avvenire and Radio Radicale, some
coastguard officers said the priority to rescue those in danger was
demonstrated earlier this month.
On 13 July the coastguard was sent to keep watch on 450 migrants crammed
into a fishing boat, but took part in a later rescue mission even though Rome
had told them to let Malta take charge, the officers said.
Recalling the decision to intervene, the officers spoke of their “feeling
of helplessness” which had built up in the weeks prior, as migrants attempted
the perilous sea crossing.
The vast majority of Italy’s around 13,000 coastguard officers work along
the country’s 8,000 km of coastline, but the institution says that more than
2,000 of them have had first-hand experience on vessels operating off Libya –
– where a large number of the migrant tragedies occur.
“At the moment, the atmosphere among the coastguard corps is not the best,”
says Sergio Scandura, a journalist with Radio Radicale.
The month of June was the deadliest in the Mediterranean in recent years
with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reporting some 564
deaths or disappearances, despite the fact that overall departures have
dropped sharply since the summer of 2017.
Salvini’s hardline immigration stance appears to, however, be very popular
among Italians: according to about half a dozen separate polls, some two-
thirds of citizens approve his decision to close ports to rescued migrants.
His far-right League party — which governs the country as part of a
coalition — has also experienced a boom in the polls: the League garnered 17
percent of the vote at the March general election, but opinion polls now
suggest support of around 30 percent.
The new policy has come under fire from the country’s opposition
politicians, however, and some of Italy’s prominent Catholic figures have
also spoken out.
After two bodies were discovered in a deflated dinghy off Libya, along with
one survivor suffering from shock and hypothermia on Tuesday, the Episcopal
Conference of Italy released a statement denouncing a “tragedy which we
cannot manage to get used to”.
“We warn unequivocally that to save our humanity from vulgarity and
barbarism, we must protect life. Every life. From the most exposed,
humiliated and trampled,” the bishops wrote.