• The Geo Barents, operated by MSF, docked at Taranto with 85 migrants on board.
• It is the first ship to arrive after the new decree on NGOs was introduced.
• In the Mediterranean in 2021, at least 1,400 people died attempting to reach Italy.

The Geo Barents, operated by Médecins Sans Frontières, is officially the first NGO ship engaged in a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean to dock at an Italian port following the government's introduction of the new immigration decree, which contains stricter rules on the conduct of humanitarian rescuers.

MediciSenzaFrontiere @MSF_ITALIA

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Stavano rischiando di annegare in mezzo alle onde. Siamo riusciti a soccorrere tutti. Ma cosa sarebbe successo senza la #GeoBarents?
Il nuovo decreto imposto dal governo alle navi ONG rischia di limitare la nostra capacità operativa con un inevitabile aumento del numero di morti

♥ 165💬 64 3 gen 2023 · Apri su X →

The Geo Barents docked at Taranto having rescued 85 migrants, taken on board in two separate operations: 41 were on board a first vessel, and 44 were transferred from a second boat a few hours later. After requesting a safe port, the MSF ship then changed course following a report from Alarm Phone, the NGO that acts as an emergency telephone hotline for boats carrying migrants in distress: once they reached the indicated location, however, the Geo Barents crew found no vessel adrift. Among the 85 people rescued by MSF are 72 men, 2 women and 9 minors, all in a satisfactory state of health.

What the new decree on NGOs provides for

The Geo Barents' docking is of particular significance because, as mentioned, it is the first case to follow the new decree introduced by the Council of Ministers, aimed at tightening the operational margin for ships engaged in rescues in the Mediterranean. Specifically, the new decree provides for:

• A ban on transfers of shipwreck survivors from a smaller rescue vessel to a larger one
• A ban on multiple rescues, meaning the rescuing of survivors from more than one boat at a time.
• The possibility for migrants to apply for asylum directly on board.
• The obligation to immediately request an Italian disembarkation port from the authorities.
• The obligation to reach the designated port without delay in order to complete the rescue operation.
• Fines of up to €50,000 for the captain and the shipowner in the event of a breach of the new rules.
• Confiscation of the vessel in the event of a repeated breach of the ban.

According to journalist Annalisa Camilli, an expert on migration, this amounts to an attempt to "outlaw transfers and multiple rescues — those carried out after the first — by stating that only rescues that do not hinder the reaching of the assigned port are permitted." And indeed an investigation was immediately opened into the Geo Barents' conduct, although no violations appear to have been identified at this stage: firstly because the two rescues, which took place on 1 January, occurred before the decree was introduced (which is dated 28 December but was signed by President Mattarella on 2 January), and in any case at the direction of the Italian port authorities.

annalisa camilli @annalisacamilli

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È un film già visto: un nuovo decreto contro le #ong: un po' codice di condotta come nel 2017 un po' decreto sicurezza bis come nel 2019. Una norma che prevede misure contrarie al diritto internazionale varata d'urgenza. #migranti

♥ 168💬 11 28 dic 2022 · Apri su X →

The question of the change of course made by the MSF vessel remains to be assessed, but in this case too the non-retroactivity of the regulation should protect the Geo Barents. As regards asylum applications, mission head Juan Matias Gil explained in Taranto that "no application for political asylum has been signed, because no application is filled out on board the ship. The refugees have been informed of their rights, and will then decide whether to do so and whether to submit a request to the Questura."

On the new decree, Médecins Sans Frontières had already made its position very clear before the docking: "They were at risk of drowning in the middle of the waves; the rescue we carried out on 1 January was extremely complex. But what would have happened without the Geo Barents? Without the presence of civilian search and rescue vessels, thousands of children, women and men are abandoned to their fate. The new decree imposed by the Italian government on NGO ships risks limiting our operational capacity, with an inevitable rise in the number of deaths in that stretch of sea, now sadly known as the largest cemetery in Europe."

MediciSenzaFrontiere @MSF_ITALIA

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🔴Con le nuove regole imposte dal governo italiano alle navi delle #ONG, saremo costretti a lasciare sguarnite le zone di soccorso con un inevitabile aumento del numero dei morti.

Da gennaio 1360 persone hanno perso la vita nel #Mediterraneo Centrale.

medicisenzafrontiere.it/news-e-storie/…

♥ 82💬 21 29 dic 2022 · Apri su X →

Since 2014, an estimated 25,000 people have died in the Mediterranean, of whom 1,400 in the past year alone. This is without counting what happens in Libya, before departure, where migrants are frequently imprisoned, tortured and sometimes killed by human traffickers: one of the people who disembarked in Taranto today told MSF staff that they had been an eyewitness to the murder of a migrant in Libya who did not have enough money to pay for the boat "journey" from Libya to Italy.