New Italian gov't refuses to allow migrant rescue ships to dock | Eastern NC Now

Italy's new conservative government is refusing to allow migrant "rescue" ships to dock in their country.   Three of the ships run by non-governmental "charities" are sitting in international waters near Italy with 1,000 migrants aboard.  The flow of illegal aliens from North Africa has proven to mostly be economic migrants, not genuine refugees.  The so-called "rescue" ships usually scoop up the migrants just off of the African coast and ferry them to Italy, which the previous "technocratic" Italian government had allowed.

The new government noted that two of the ships were run by German based organizations and flagged in Germany while one was run by a French organization and flagged in Norway.  Italian officials noted that if those operating the ships wanted to take them somewhere, they should take them to the countries represented by the ship's registry or its operators, not Italy.  German diplomatic involved received the stark response that "Italy is a fully sovereign country" and would make its own decisions.

Under international law dealing with rescue at sea, the ships should have taken them back to ports in North Africa, which were the closest to the pick up points, not ferry them on to Italy or anywhere in Europe.

https://rmx.news/italy/italy-is-a-fully-sovereign-country-italys-new-conservative-government-refuses-to-dock-migrants-from-german-ngo-ships/