The Italian government declared a state of emergency regarding the country's migrant situation late Tuesday. More than 31,000 migrants have arrived by sea since the start of January.
The Italian government declared a state of emergency regarding the migrant situation in the country late Tuesday (April 11).
The declaration is set to last at least six months and will allow the government to release more funds to deal with the more than 31,000 migrants who have arrived on the coasts of Italy since the start of the year, local papers report.
The declaration came after the Italian coast guard rescued thousands of migrants over the Easter weekend.
The declaration includes the designation of a special commissioner and initial funding of €5 million to help handle the situation, Italian state broadcaster RAI reports.
The government said the declaration was deemed necessary "to carry out with urgency extraordinary measures to reduce congestion" at the first reception center or “hotspot” on Lampedusa, reported the news agency Associated Press (AP).
The money will also be used to create new structures "suitable both for sheltering as well as the processing and repatriation of migrants who don’t have the requisites to stay," a government spokesperson said.
Calls for more help from the EU
This is not the first time Italy has imposed a migration-related state of emergency.
A similar declaration was made during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely for the purpose of allowing the cabinet to bypass typical bureaucratic processes to make quick decisions, AP reports.
Also read: Italian coast guard rescues thousands over Easter weekend
Officials say the declaration doesn't mean Italy doesn't need any help.
The country's minister for civil protection and sea policies Nello Musumeci – himself a Sicilian and former governor of Sicily – said Italy should not be left alone to deal with the issue and that "resolving this problem...is tied to a mindful and responsible intervention of the European Union," Italian news agency ANSA reports.
Some critics, however, say the situation isn't as bad as politicians are making it out to be.
Jean-Pierre Gauci, director of the Malta-based humanitarian organization People for Change Foundation, said he thinks Italy and the EU are looking for "pretexts" to allow it to violate their international obligations and that they are "overreacting."
Criticism of declaration
Gauci told Deutsche Welle that the declaration of an emergency in order to allow repatriation "clearly flies in the face of international obligations."
Gauci said the legal principle of non-refoulement and the obligation to assess each asylum case individually, if upheld, would stop the kinds of faster repatriations that some people might hope for in response to the declaration.
Also read: Malta, Italy rescues and disembarkations on the central Mediterranean route
The declaration was made hours before an Italian coast guard-accompanied boat of at least 700 migrants was expected to pull into the Sicilian port of Catania in the east of the island.
Reception centers full
As the numbers in the Lampedusa reception center have increased to well above capacity, Italy has been chartering empty ferries to try and accommodate and transport some of the thousands of migrants who arrived in the last few days to Sicily or mainland Italy.
"We are in an emergency situation. The staff are trying to do what they can, "Lorena Tortorici, director of the migrant center, told Italy’s Sky News 24. "There are many women with small children, plus there are unaccompanied minors."
Another boat carrying around 400 spotted
Late Tuesday night, the German private rescue organization Sea-Watch alerted the Maltese and Italian authorities to the presence of another boat carrying 400 people in the Maltese Search and Rescue (SAR) zone.
"Our aerial monitoring mission...has sighted yet another about 400 people in distress at sea in a big fishing boat in the Maltese search and rescue area," said a Sea-Watch spokesperson, Giorgia Linardi to Deutsche Welle.
Linardi added that after talking to many migrants who have made the crossing, she felt the European migration policy, which includes giving money, equipment and training support to North African coast guards – including in Libya, Tunisia and Morocco – was actually making the situation worse.
She said some migrants intercepted by members of the Libyan coast guard were being thrown back into a cycle of detention and abuse in Libya before being set free to attempt the crossing multiple times before they might finally arrive in Europe.
Also read: Crimes against humanity committeed in Libya according to the UN
Changes proposed regarding special protection
The government is already close to obtaining a majority on one part of another decree governing migration, according to Italy's local La Sicilia newspaper.
If passed, the time needed to verify asylum claims could be cut in half, while regulations for those qualifying for special protection status would be tightened.
Additionally, anyone found to have returned to their country, even temporarily, during the time they held special protection status would automatically lose it if the part of the decree passes, the paper reports.
The time people can be held in a repatriation detention center might also be altered, they wrote.
These latest changes are expected to be discussed at a special committee meeting later Wednesday and could be approved between April 18 and 20, La Sicilia wrote.
With AP, dpa, ANSA