Italy, Malta keep migrant vessel in limbo

AFP News

8 August 2017

A Spanish vessel with three Libyan migrants aboard was kept in international waters on Tuesday after Italy and Malta refused to let it to dock.

The three aboard the ship Golfo Azzurro, chartered by Spain's Proactiva Open Arms NGO and rescued Sunday, were in limbo, illustrating policy confusion a week after Rome introduced a controversial code of conduct for charity boats rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.

A Proactiva spokesman said the vessel was some 100 nautical miles (180 kilometres) off the Libyan coast as the NGO attempted a rescue operation normally coordinated with the Italian coast guard.

When the Golfo Azzurro approached the Italian island of Lampedusa, the closest to the Libyan coast, Italian authorities denied it passage.

Proactiva's mission head Gerard Canals told AFP that Malta had said Italy was responsable for the rescue and should take the migrants.

"The rescue on Sunday happened under the coordination of the Italian MRCC (coastguards headquarters) in Rome but in the Maltese SAR (search and rescue zone).

"We asked to disembark in Lampedusa because it was closer but the Italian authorities told us to see with Malta.

"We cannot take them back to Libya because it's against maritime law" with Libya not considered as a safe port "so we have to take them to a European port."

Proactiva is one of four NGOs which have signed up to the code -- the group formally did so Tuesday at the Italian interior ministry -- whereas five counterparts operating search-and-rescue activities off Libya have rejected the new rules.

Having been denied entry to Italy and Malta to change crew and load supplies, the Golfo Azzurro was stuck between Malta and Sicily midday Tuesday.

Italian authorities last Saturday did allow 127 migrants to disembark on Lampedusa after their rescue by Prudence, a vessel chartered by Doctors without Borders (MSF), which has not signed up to the new code.

Also Tuesday, C-Star, a vessel chartered by a group of European far-right activists opposed to migrants, was still moored off the Tunisian coast as fishermen and a powerful union prevented them from loading supplies.

Two weeks ago, Turkish Cypriot authorities released the C-Star's captain and crew after detaining them over accusations of using false documentation.

The activists' "Defend Europe" scheme was launched by anti-immigration campaigners from France, Italy and Germany who raised 170,000 euros ($200,000) via crowd-funding to hire the vessel.

In a separate development, UN's new envoy to Libya on Tuesday endorsed an Italy drive to strengthen the Libyan coastguard to ensure boatloads of migrants are intercepted before reaching international waters.

Human rights campaigners fear the approach could place thousands of people with a right to asylum at serious risk.

But Ghassam Salame, a former Lebanese culture minister appointed in June to head UN operations in Libya, described the cooperation between Tripoli and Rome as a "very constructive" way of dealing with an acute problem.

"It would be absolutely unrealistic to ignore the seriousness of the challenge of irregular migration," Salame said after meeting Italian Foreign Minister Angelo Alfano in Rome.

"There are hundreds of millions of them across the world. This is very serious problem."

Source: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/italy-malta-keep-migrant-vessel-limbo-114411481.html

Italy seizes NGO rescue boat for 'aiding illegal migration'

NGO was one of five which refused to agree new code of conduct regulating rescue missions in Mediterranean

Middle East Eye

3 August 2017

Italy seized a migrant rescue boat operated by a German aid group, prosecutors announced on Wednesday, accusing it of aiding and abetting "clandestine migration" from Libya.

The move comes as Italy toughened its approach to migration in the Southern Mediterran, dispatching a limited naval mission to Libyan waters to assist the Libyan coastguard and curb migrant flows.

The German group, which describes itself as an organisation of young Europeans, was one of five groups aiding migrants in the southern Mediterranean which refused to sign an Italian eight-point code-of-conduct regulating non-governmental actors, including a demand that they carry an armed policeman on board their boats.

Italy's interior minister, Marco Minniti, warned the day after the seizure that NGOs would likely be unable to continue operating if they did not sign up to the new rules.

Video showed the boat the Iuventa arriving at the island of Lampedusa surrounded by several coastguard vessels after it was stopped at sea before dawn.

Police inspected the ship as soon as it docked and checked the crew passports. They later took charge of the boat and set sail for a larger port in Sicily.

Jugend Rettet said on Twitter that it was currently "gathering information on all levels" and hoped to be in touch with "the Italian authorities in the near future".

"For us, the rescue of human life is and will be top priority, so we are very sorry for the fact that we are not able to operate in the search and rescue zone," their statement said.

Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor in the western Sicilian city of Trapani, told a news conference his investigation into Jugend Rettet was ongoing and no one had yet been charged.

"The evidence is serious," Cartosio said. "We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat's crew."

Italian media reported the boat had two Syrians aboard who were taken to a refugee centre, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

It was the first time Italian police have seized a humanitarian boat. The move came amid growing suspicion over the role non-governmental organisations are playing in picking up migrants off the Libya coast and bringing them to Italian ports.

The group put out a statement on their Facebook page on Tuesday questioning the code’s legality but saying it wanted further dialogue with the Italian interior ministry on the issue. Cartosio denied a suggestion that there was any link between this refusal and the boat's seizure.

Spain's Pro-Activa Open Arms charity, one of three organisations to have signed, said it regards the code as "unnecessary but acceptable" while other groups including Doctors Without Borders, have refused to sign. 

No coordinated plan

Cartosio said there was no indication that Jugend Rettet had received any money from the Libya-based traffickers.

"It would be fantasy to say there was a coordinated plan between the NGOs and the Libyan traffickers," he said.

Cartosio told a parliamentary committee in May that he had suspicions about certain humanitarian groups because some rescue crew seemed to know in advance where to locate the flimsy boats crowded with migrants.

The mood in Italy has turned against NGOs operating in the Mediterranean, as political parties have called for action to be taken against them.

The Five Star Movement, which polls say is now the country's biggest party, has accused NGOs of offering a "taxi" service to migrants, while the rightist Northern League party has said all their ships should be impounded.

The humanitarian groups say they are only interested in saving lives, warning that thousands of people would die if they were not out at sea. Despite their efforts, 2,200 migrants have died so far this year trying to reach Europe from North Africa.

Looking to turn the screws on the traffickers, Italy's parliament authorised on Wednesday a limited naval mission to help Libya's coastguard curb migrant flows.

Jugend Rettet says on its website it started patrolling the Mediterranean in July 2016 and has rescued 6,526 people in its first year of action.

"We want to put pressure on state actors to enforce the fundamental right to life and security even in the Mediterranean," the group says.

Minniti added on Thursday that the number of migrants to Italy had dropped in recent weeks, and that the Italian government would work with Chad, Niger and Mali on measures to reduce the number of migrants leaving for Europe.

Source: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/italy-seizes-ngo-rescue-boat-aiding-illegal-migration-1330988455

The charity boat 'taking deliveries' of migrants from people traffickers: Undercover officers capture criminals 'escorting' vessels to aid ships bound for Italy

* Photographs show criminals 'escorting' vessels packed with asylum seekers
* The asylum seekers were then seen being transferred to aid boats bound for Italy
* German charity Jugend Rettet is accused of towing boats used to ferry migrants
* The revelations emerged after investigators impounded one of their vessels

Daily Mail

By Mario Ledwith, Brussels Correspondent

4 August 2017

A charity boat operating in the Mediterranean allegedly colluded with people smugglers to accept multiple 'deliveries' of migrants, investigators have revealed.

Photographs captured by undercover officers show the criminals 'escorting' vessels packed with asylum seekers before being transferred to aid boats bound for Italy.

The images emerged after Italian authorities carried out their first seizure of a rescue boat on suspicion of aiding illegal immigration.

One photograph appears to show a smuggler waving off a boatload of migrants after travelling alongside them to within the reach of rescuers.

German charity Jugend Rettet is also accused of towing boats used to ferry migrants back towards Libya, where most migrants hoping to reach Europe depart, to be reused by smugglers.

The revelations emerged after investigators took the unprecedented move of impounding the aid organisation's vessel, Iuventa, at Lampedusa on Wednesday.

Details about the alleged collusion were contained in documents outlining the case prepared by prosecutors in Sicily following months of accusations about charities co-operating with smugglers.

German charity Jugend Rettet is also accused of towing boats used to ferry migrants back towards Libya, where most migrants hoping to reach Europe depart, to be reused by smugglers.

The revelations emerged after investigators took the unprecedented move of impounding the aid organisation's vessel, Iuventa, at Lampedusa on Wednesday.

Details about the alleged collusion were contained in documents outlining the case prepared by prosecutors in Sicily following months of accusations about charities co-operating with smugglers.

Ambrogio Cartosio, the chief prosecutor from the Sicilian city of Trapani who is behind the investigation, said that no arrests had been made and that inquiries are continuing.

'We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat's crew,' he said but added that there was no evidence that charity members received any money from the traffickers.

He said that their motivation was 'humanitarian'.

The investigation, launched in October 2016, centres on three specific incidents involving the 100ft vessel, but investigators are analysing other aspects of the charity's operations.

Prosecutors are said to have gathered evidence from an undercover police officer working on another boat, along with evidence from workers on Save the Children's Vos Hestia vessel.

The charity, which means 'youth rescues', refused to comment on the precise allegations but said in a statement that the 'rescue of human life is and will be our top priority'.

Details of the investigation emerged amid a row between the Italian government and the eight charities operating in the Mediterranean over a controversial code of conduct issued by Rome.

Senior Italian officials yesterday insisting that charities who do not sign up will be blocked from undertaking rescue missions unless the code is adhered to.

It is unclear how the threats to the charities would be enforced. Experts say a blockade could contradict international law which says vessels have a obligation to help those who are in distress.

Charities are responsible for between 35 and 40 per cent of rescues in the area.


Source:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4759320/The-charity-boat-taking-migrants-people-traffickers.html

Italy seizes NGO rescue boat for allegedly aiding illegal migration

Reuters

By Wladimiro Pantaleone

2 August 2017

PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - Italian coastguards seized a migrant rescue boat operated by a German aid group in the Mediterranean suspected of aiding illegal immigration from Libya, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Video showed the Iuventa, which is run by Jugend Rettet, arriving at the island of Lampedusa surrounded by several coastguard vessels after it was stopped at sea before dawn.

Police inspected the ship as soon as it docked and checked the crew passports. They later took charge of the boat.

Jugend Rettet said on Twitter it had received no information about the investigation. It could not be reached for further comment.

It was the first time Italian police have seized a humanitarian boat. The move came amidst growing suspicion over the role non-governmental organizations are playing in picking up migrants off the Libya coast and bringing them to Italian ports.

Ambrogio Cartosio, chief prosecutor in the western Sicilian city of Trapani, told a news conference his investigation into Jugend Rettet was ongoing and no one had yet been charged.

"The evidence is serious," Cartosio said. "We have evidence of encounters between traffickers, who escorted illegal immigrants to the Iuventa, and members of the boat's crew."

Italian media reported the boat had two Syrians aboard who were taken to a refugee center, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

"TAXI SERVICE"

Cartosio said there was no indication that Jugend Rettet had received any money from the Libya-based traffickers.

"It would be fantasy to say there was a coordinated plan between the NGOs and the Libyan traffickers," he said.

Cartosio told a parliamentary committee in May that he had suspicions about certain humanitarian groups because some rescue crew seemed to know in advance where to locate the flimsy boats crowded with migrants.

Looking to regulate eight non-governmental groups which regularly hunt for migrants in the southern Mediterranean, the Italian government asked them this week to sign a code of conduct, including a demand that they carry an armed policemen on board their boats.

Jugend Rettet, which describes itself as an organization of young Europeans, was one of five groups that refused to sign up, but Cartosio denied a suggestion that there was any link between this refusal and the boat's seizure.

The 5-Star Movement, which polls say is now the country's biggest party, have accused NGOs of offering a "taxi" service to migrants, while the rightist Northern League party has said all their ships should be impounded.

The humanitarian groups say they are only interested in saving lives, warning that thousands of people would die if they were not out at sea. Despite their efforts, 2,200 migrants have died so far this year trying to reach Europe from north Africa.

Looking to turn the screws on the traffickers, Italy's parliament authorized on Wednesday a limited naval mission to help Libya's coastguard curb migrant flows.

Jugend Rettet says on its website it started patrolling the Mediterranean in July 2016 and has rescued 6,526 people in its first year of action.

"We want to put pressure on state actors to enforce the fundamental right to life and security even in the Mediterranean," the group says.

Additional reporting and writing by Isla Binnie; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Alison Williams

Source: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-sweden-idUSKBN1AR1ST

Italy seizes German group's rescue boat in immigration probe

The Associated Press

2 August 2017


ROME — Italian authorities ordered a German group's migrant rescue vessel seized Wednesday, alleging that its crew took on migrants directly from smugglers' boats near Libya's coast.

The vessel operated by Jugend Rettet was seized in the port of Lampedusa, a tiny fishing island off Sicily, where many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants rescued at sea in the last few years are taken.

While investigators suspect "the crime of clandestine immigration" was committed by some of the Jugend Rettet boat's crew, prosecutor Ambrogio Cartosio told reporters that "my personal conviction was that the motive is humanitarian, exclusively humanitarian."

The preventive seizure of the Dutch-flagged Iuventa was based on evidence that emerged from three episodes in which crew members had contact with human smugglers operating boats crowded with migrants, Cartosio said. One happened in September 2016, two in June.

"There were contacts, meetings, understandings," between the group's boat and the smugglers, the prosecutor, who is based in the Sicilian port city of Trapani, said.

The passengers on the human traffickers' boats "weren't saved" by the Iuventa, he alleged. Instead, migrants "were handed over" to the German group's 33-meter (about 110-foot) -long boat by smugglers who escorted the migrants toward the Iuventa, the prosecutor said.

Later the migrants were transferred to Italian military vessels or other non-profit vessels to be taken to Italian ports, Cartosio said.

Police in Trapani said the Iuventa "is regularly devoted to the rescue of migrants near the Libyan coast" and that an investigation opened in October has uncovered information to suggest the vessel was used "to aid and abet clandestine immigration."

Jugend Rettet, a group based in Berlin, is mainly made up of young volunteers. Its website says its volunteers' "motivation derives from the will to rescue lives and to improve the humanitarian situation on the Mediterranean."

The group said on its Facebook page Wednesday that it went to Lampedusa on instructions from the Rome-based maritime rescue co-ordinationcentre after being asked to help in a search-and-rescue mission on Tuesday.

"As it happened during other stops at this port, the crew was questioned by the local police, which also entered the ship," Jugend Rettet said. After a warrant-authorized search of the ship, authorities seized the Iuventa, which will eventually be taken to the main island of Sicily.

Cartosio stressed that no individual members of the crew had been charged and the investigation was ongoing to see which of them might have made contact with smugglers at sea.

"There is no indication (the crew) was paid," by smugglers, "nor is there any element to make us think there is a stable tie between the ship and Libyan traffickers,' Cartosio said.

Any allegation that contacts between Jugend Rettet's boat and the boats transporting migrants resulted from "co-ordinated planning" is tantamount to "science fiction," Cartosio said.

A judge in Trapani ordered the preventive seizure upon prosecutors' request.

A few months ago, prosecutors in Trapani and in Catania, another Sicilian city, said they suspected some non-governmental organizations which rescue migrants, were also essentially aiding traffickers.

Jugend Rettet was one of several NGOs which declined this week to sign on to new rules promoted by Italy's interior minister and aimed at ensuring rescue groups don't end up effectively helping human traffickers.

The smugglers crowd flimsy rubber dinghies or aging fishing boats with migrants, essentially counting on European or Italian military patrol boats, NGO rescue vessels or passing cargo ships to pluck the passengers to safety and bring them to Italian shores.

Objections to the new rules included fears that armed Italian military or police personnel would come aboard the NGO vessels, compromising the groups' humanitarian missions.

With elections due in 2018, Premier Paolo Gentiloni's centre-left government is becoming bolder in trying to hold back the tide of migrants entering Italy. Many Italians have grown impatient with the number of newcomers awaiting decisions on asylum requests in their communities.

Italy's Parliament on Wednesday approved having Italian military vessels help Libya's coast guard stop smuggling boats from leaving Libya for Europe. Italy's defence minister has insisted the mission won't be a naval blockade, although lawmakers from the anti-migrant Northern League, an opposition party, are demanding just that.

A spokesman for the Libyan navy, Ayoub Gassim, told The Associated Press the Italians will provide "technical assistance" at Libya's request and that a patrol boat arrived in Tripoli Wednesday.

___

Rami Musa contributed from Benghazi, Libya.


Source: http://www.timescolonist.com/italy-seizes-german-group-s-rescue-boat-in-immigration-probe-1.21552009

Italy seizes German-operated migrant rescue boat claiming it is being used to help ‘clandestine immigration’ from Libya to Europe

 
* The boat, operated by pro-migrant group Jugend Rettet, is being held in Sicily
* Authorities in Italy claim it was supporting illegal immigration from Libya
* Move comes as lawmakers back plans to use warships to block migrant boats
* Amnesty International warns move puts migrants at risk of torture in Libya

VIDEO: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/embed/video/1512185.html

Mailonline

By Dave Burke

2 August 2017

Italian authorities have seized a migrant rescue boat, accusing its owner of aiding 'clandestine immigration'.

The 100ft-long vessel, operated by pro-migrant group Jugend Rettet, is currently being held at a Sicilian port.

The move comes after Italian lawmakers approved controversial plans to use warships to prevent migrant boats reaching Europe from Libya - a move branded a 'recipe for more suffering' by Amnesty International, which claims intercepted migrants could be at risk of torture.

A prosecutor in Trapani, Sicily, ordered the boat, named The Iuventa, should be put under a preventative seizure today.

Jugend Rettet, which carries out search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, tweeted the boat's crew was interviewed.

It said it had not received any information about being the target of an investigation.

A police statement said: 'Enquiries begun in October 2016, and conducted with the use of sophisticated techniques and investigative technology, have produced circumstantial evidence of the motorboat Iuventa being used for activities facilitating illegal immigration.'

The move came as Italian lawmakers voted to approve having Italian military vessels help Libya's coast guard stop migrant smuggling boats from leaving Libya for European shores.

Italy's defense minister insisted before Wednesday's vote in Parliament that the mission won't be a naval blockade, although lawmakers from the anti-migrant Northern League, an opposition party, demanded exactly that.

With several EU nations refusing to accept asylum-seekers to help ease Italy's burden, Italians' patience for the steady arrival of migrants rescued at sea appears to be wearing thin.

Hundreds of thousands of people, most of them economic migrants ineligible for asylum, have been brought ashore in Italy after rescue in the last few years.

The migrant crisis looms as a campaign issue in 2018 elections.

In response to Parliament's decision, Amnesty International's deputy Europe director, Gauri Van Gulik, said: 'The Italian authorities have shown today that they consider it more important to keep refugees and migrants away from their shores than to protect their lives and welfare.

'Facilitating the interception and return of refugees and migrants to Libya results in their arbitrary detention in centres where they are at almost certain risk of torture, rape and even of being killed, and today’s vote could make the Italian authorities complicit in these horrors.'

And he continued: 'This is not the answer to the humanitarian crisis in the central Mediterranean – it is a recipe for more suffering. Any cooperation with the Libyan authorities should prioritise monitoring and accountability for any human rights violations they have committed.'


Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4754148/Italy-seizes-German-operated-migrant-rescue-boat.html

NGO ship Iuventa confiscated

Order linked to probe into aiding illegal immigration

ANSA

2 August 2017

(ANSA) - Palermo, August 2 - Italian police and Coast Guard authorities on Wednesday executed an order by a Trapani judge for the preventative seizure of the Iuventa, a ship flying the Dutch flag operating for the German NGO Jugend Rettet, sources said. The order is related to a probe into alleged aiding of illegal immigration. Jugend Rettet is one of several NGOs conducting migrant rescues in the Mediterranean that refused to sign a new code of conduct at the Italian interior ministry this week.

The European Commission has said that NGOs that do not sign the code will not be guaranteed of access to Italian ports.

Earlier on Tuesday, Jugend Rettet said via Twitter that the vessel "has not been confiscated" after it was stopped and checked at the Italian island of Lampedusa.


Source:  http://www.ansa.it/english/news/politics/2017/08/02/ngo-ship-iuventa-confiscated-2_727082f9-b41d-4888-907f-c2dbfe9c1e2e.html

* "Migrants, seized NGO ship, the Prosecutor's Office: contacts with traffickers"/"Migranti, sequestrata nave Ong. La Procura: contatti con i trafficanti": http://tg24.sky.it/cronaca/2017/08/02/migranti-sequestro-nave-iuventa-ong-lampedusa.html