Italy allows migrant boat to dock but many remain stranded

After spending a week at sea, migrants from one of four rescue boats that Italy had barred from docking have been let to disembark, according to the charity that runs the vessel. On the Rise Above, 89 persons in total were permitted to set foot on land.

However, although Rome promises to stop irregular migrants from crossing the Mediterranean, individuals are still on three additional rescue boats. Giorgia Meloni, the prime minister, has stated that she wants to prohibit human traffickers from “deciding who enters Italy.” Her right-wing administration has come under fire for refusing the rescue boats safe harbour.

But Chiara Cardoletti, the UN refugee commissioner’s representative in Italy, said that Italy had been on the front line of the migrant crisis for too long and she called on the European Union to find a common strategy.

“We appreciate what Italy has done by allowing boats to enter territorial waters, allowing children, women and people with medical problems to disembark,” she told the BBC. “Italy cannot be left alone, the European Union must step forward and find appropriate and faster solutions.”

On Monday, three people leapt into the water from the Geo Barents after being refused permission to disembark in the Sicilian port of Catania. They were among about 250 migrants told to remain on two boats in Catania after officials deemed them “healthy”.

The Rise Above is operated by the German nonprofit Mission Lifeline, which released a statement in which it expressed its “relief that the rescued persons are finally safe on land” at Reggio Calabria, on the Italian mainland, a short distance from Sicily. 89 people disembarked, with several of them being characterised as minors.

Authorities claimed to the Italian media that they were let to go because, in contrast to the two boats parked in Sicily, they had been picked up in a’save and rescue’ (SAR) incident in the Mediterranean.

The nonprofit organisation denounced the “undignified political game” that had left them adrift. Italian reports claim that the Rise Above’s crew has not yet been able to disembark.

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