- Title: ITALY: Italian government, humanitarian organisations discuss migrant issue
- Date: 15th October 2013
- Summary: ROME, ITALY (OCTOBER 15, 2013) (REUTERS) MEETING BETWEEN HUMANITARIAN ORGANISATIONS AND ITALIAN GOVERNMENT (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) HEAD OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION OFFICE, RICCARDO COMPAGNUCCI, SAYING: "The moment they have to make a rescue they should take people to the nearest port that is available to take them. This is so they can continue the rescue not because they want to
- Embargoed: 30th October 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Italy
- Country: Italy
- Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics,People
- Reuters ID: LVA8MGATP1RWLYQG9R6OTLNRXF2W
- Story Text: Italian government officials and humanitarian organisations met in Rome on Tuesday (October 15) to discuss the migrant issue as the government deployed ships, helicopters and unmanned drones to stop further shipwrecks that have drowned hundreds already this month.
So far 370 people had been plucked from the sea as the "Operation Mare Nostrum" got underway.
Italy will deploy an amphibious assault ship with an on-board hospital and long-range helicopters, five more navy ships, several more helicopters and an aircraft equipped with night-vision and radar, plus unmanned drone aircraft based in Sicily.
On Monday, Interior Minister Angelino Alfano said not all migrants saved in the military operation would be brought to Italy and did not explicitly rule out returning them to Libya, the departure point for two-thirds of the boats.
On Tuesday Riccardo Compagnucci, head of the Interior Ministry's immigration office, ruled out Libya as a safe port.
Compagnucci told Reuters some migrants could be taken to "Malta and Greece" in order to facilitate rescue operations.
"The moment they have to make a rescue they should take people to the nearest port that is able to take them," said Compagnucci.
"This is so they can continue the rescue not because they want to abandon them," he added.
"I interpret it like this, not everyone needs to come to Italy, it is not a type of metro line Libya-Lampedusa, we are not going to become the ferry drivers in the place of the smugglers. I say if we have to make a rescue, the rescue needs to be thorough and quick," he said.
Amnesty International said its prime concern was that migrants would not get dumped back into countries like Libya where their safety would not be ensured.
Speaking about the Mare Nostrum operation Giusy D'Alconzo from Amnesty International Italy said it was still not clear what form any kind of coooperation between Italian and Libyan governments would take.
"The operation will have two main purposes. One, is search and rescue, the other one is patrolling. At the moment Amnesty International Italy has two main questions: One is which one of these two functions will be given priority and of course we expect the priority will be given to search and rescue and not to patrolling. The second question is what about cooperation between Italy and Libya? What is the state now of this cooperation because this has a lot to do with the operation in the Mediterranean" D'Alconzo said.
The Italian island of Lampedusa, which lies southwest of Sicily and just 70 miles (113 km) from the coast of Tunisia, has been a stepping stone for migrants seeking a better life in Europe for two decades.
Now the Syrian civil war and unrest in Egypt and other Arab and African countries are fuelling the flow of refugees, many of whom have to pass through an increasingly unstable Libya.
But Director of Italy's Council for Refugees, Christopher Hein said the increase in patrols was a step in the right direction.
"It is not 'the' solution but it is however an immediate step in the right direction. Because really if the objective of this Operation Mare Nostrum, that means to reinforce the surveillance of the sea, has the meaning of saving lives, of detecting boats prior to going in danger on the sea and then put the people in a safe haven. If this is the real meaning we certainly would agree to it," Hein said.
But, Hein said, more work needed to be done to try and stop the migrants leaving on boats in the first place.
"....wouldn't it be better to think about means that the people are not obliged to go on these boats," he said.
"So as it was said this morning here to advance the possibility of having a legal entry into Europe. Not only in Italy of course, not only when they are on the high sea but already before departing from the Libyan coast, or from the Egyptian coast or from the Turkish coast," he said.
On Tuesday, Sicily's regional parliament declared a state of emergency to earmark funds for the island's immigration structures. The Lampedusa centre is severely overcrowded, hosting four or five times its capacity. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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