“We cannot stand helplessly waiting for the next shipwreck, a danger that, I insist, is caused by crossings organized by unscrupulous people traffickers,” says Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, defended on Tuesday a greater action by Europe to stop the arrival of immigrants and warned of new shipwrecks similar to the one on February 26 in Calabria, in which at least 87 people died.
“After the Cutro disaster (in Calabria, southern Italy), I wrote to the presidents of the European Commission and the Council of Europe to reiterate that we cannot wait any longer,” Meloni said.
Identified 56 of the 68 fatalities of the shipwreck in southern Italy
“We cannot remain helpless waiting for the next shipwreck, a danger that, I insist, is caused by the voyages organized by unscrupulous people traffickers. The borders of Italy are the borders of Europe“he added.
Meloni stressed that one of the ways is to find ways to prevent migrants and refugees from being forced to try to reach Europe in the first place.
“Given the hypothetical right to emigrate, Every human being must have the right not to be forced to migrate in search of a better life.A. This is precisely the aspect that Europe and the West have culpably neglected in recent years”, he defended.
Meloni recalled that the Italian government managed to place the issue of migration at the top of the agenda of the extraordinary summit of the European Council, held in February. “We are facing an emergency that is becoming structural,” he stressed.
Meloni also commented on the activities of migrant rescue ships carried out by non-governmental organizations operating in the Mediterranean, stressing that the countries flying the ships’ flags must also be involved in the management of rescued migrants.
“(Rescue ships must operate) not only in Italy, which is generally the country to which ships request to be assigned a safe port due to Italy’s geographical position,” he concluded.
Central Mediterranean routes have caused more than 20,500 deaths since 2014, including some 300 since last January, according to the latest data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Source: Observadora
