The Aquarius, operated by SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières, has been at a standstill between Italy and Malta for hours. The Spanish Socialist government: “We'll take them in.”
Update, 2.44pm – Spain announced it was ready to take in the Aquarius. "It is an obligation to help avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and to offer a safe port to these people," said Socialist prime minister Pedro Sanchez.
Update, 2.20pm – At 2.13pm, the organisation SOS Méditerranée announced via its Twitter account that the Aquarius "has received instructions to maintain its current position". The NGO added that "the health of the 629 migrants rescued at sea is stable but risks deteriorating over the course of the day. They are increasingly worried and are asking when they will be able to reach land."
The 629 migrants on board the Aquarius spent the night stranded in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Just before midnight on Sunday 10 June, the two non-governmental organisations operating the vessel – SOS Méditerranée and Médecins Sans Frontières – reported the request they had received from Italy's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (Imrcc): "The Aquarius must remain on standby at its current location," that is, 35 nautical miles from the Italian coast and 27 from the Maltese coast.
The two nations had effectively been passing responsibility for the hundreds of migrants rescued in the preceding hours from drifting boats back and forth between each other. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli sent an urgent letter to the Maltese authorities calling on them to allow the Aquarius to dock on the island, while refusing it entry to Italy. "The nearest safe harbour is theirs," said the Lega Nord leader.
"From Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, whom I contacted personally this evening," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte added, as reported by the Ansa news agency, "I clearly asked that he take responsibility for at least the humanitarian relief of the people in distress on board the Aquarius. Muscat, while understanding the situation, did not, however, give any assurance of intervention. This confirms yet another refusal by Malta, and therefore by Europe, to intervene and take responsibility for the emergency. Italy finds itself facing the immigration emergency in complete isolation."
Muscat offered a different account: following his telephone conversation with Conte, he stated that "Malta is acting in full compliance with its international obligations." He also said he wished to ensure that medical emergencies on board would be attended to, and described Italy's position as "worrying" and "clearly contrary to international law," as well as "capable of leading to a dangerous situation."
"From today, Italy too begins to say no to human trafficking, no to the illegal immigration business. My objective is to guarantee a peaceful life for these young people in Africa and for our children in Italy," Salvini replied in turn. A standoff whose cost, for now, is being borne by the Aquarius, its passengers (among them 123 unaccompanied minors, 11 children and 7 pregnant women) and its crew.
Médecins Sans Frontières, for its part, issued a press release in which it stated: "We have heard the declarations by the Italian Interior Minister, as reported by the media, according to which Italian ports would be closed to the Aquarius should Malta refuse to allow those rescued to disembark on the island. We fear that once again the politics of European states is being placed above people's lives."
Expressions of solidarity with the NGOs and the migrants were in the meantime voiced by several Italian cities. Taranto Mayor Rinaldo Melucci said he was "ready to embrace every life in danger, without ifs or buts." An identical position was taken by Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris. Meanwhile, debate is focusing on the lawfulness of the Italian (and Maltese) decision to turn back the migrants. The reality is that there are numerous domestic laws and international treaties governing the matter, and some rules may appear potentially contradictory.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea of 1982 (ratified by Italy in 1994) establishes in Article 19 that "passage" through territorial waters may be considered "innocent" by a government "as long as it is not prejudicial to the peace, good order and security of the coastal state." But paragraph 2 specifies that such passage "is considered to be prejudicial to the peace, good order or security of the coastal state if in the territorial sea it engages in the loading or unloading of any commodity, currency or person contrary to the customs, fiscal, immigration or sanitary laws and regulations of the coastal state." The Conte government and Interior Minister Salvini could therefore argue that disembarkation would not comply with the laws governing immigration in Italy.
On the other hand, however, Article 1113 of the Navigation Code punishes "anyone who, when called upon by the competent authority, fails to cooperate using the means at their disposal in the rescue of a vessel, a floating craft, an aircraft or a person in danger." Furthermore, Article 1158 prohibits "failure to render assistance to vessels or persons in danger."
