Matteo Salvini, Italian interior minister, has announced that Italy will send refugees back directly to Libya if or EU countries do not accept migrants.
The reason for this threat is a ship of Italian Coast Guard: For three days it has not been allowed to moor with 177 people on board. To this end, Salvini said: “Eir Europe is seriously opting to help Italy in concrete terms, starting with 180 immigrants on board ship Diciotti, or we will be forced to do what business of traffickers ends forever”. This meant that people picked up at sea would be escorted back to Libya.
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The Diciotti had taken on Thursday 190 refugees from a boat in search and rescue zone of Malta. 13 people who needed urgent medical assistance were brought to Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa. The or persons were to bring ship to Malta, but Maltese authorities refused permission.
The EU and United Nations believe that repatriation of people to a country where y are threatened with abuse or torture is a breach of law. Libya falls into this category.
The Italian transport minister, Danilo Toninelli, member of five-Star Movement, criticized this decision of Maltese Government. The EU must open its own ports for migrants, “orwise it has no reason to exist,” he demanded on Twitter. In past, Italian government has repeatedly accused Malta of evading its responsibilities.
Maltese Interior Minister Michael Farruggia countered on Twitter on Sunday, only solution was to bring migrants to an Italian port. The Italians would have saved people in Maltese waters, but only to keep m away from Italian waters.
Irrespective of this, Malta’s head of government, Joseph Muscat, announced that it would deport around 120 migrants to Italy, which were housed under undignified conditions in former cattle stables. The refugees were legally in Malta, but would not have a work permit. On Monday, a farm where stables had been used as cheap accommodations had been vacated.