Embattled Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is not a fan of private migrant rescue missions in the Mediterranean, to say the least. Since he took office in mid-2018, there have been about a dozen prominent stand-offs between Salvini and rescue ships.
It's been one year since Italy announced it was closing its ports to humanitarian vessels. Since then, at least 1,151 men, women and children have been reported dead while over 10,000 have been forcibly taken back to Libya and exposed to further suffering, SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) say. They want EU states to change their policies.
Last year, 86 migrants rescued from the Mediterranean by the charity ship Aquarius were taken in by Portugal. The southern European nation, which wants to fight its demographic decline as much as it wants to place itself on the map as a "humanist" country, is one of the EU's few member states that willingly opens its doors to new migrant arrivals. InfoMigrants went to meet 19 "Aquarius migrants" who were taken in by Portugal in July and who have been housed in a former religious seminary in the town of Fundão, northeast of Lisbon, since September.
Aid organizations SOS Mediterranee and Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are being forced to end their life-saving Mediterranean rescue mission. MSF managing director Florian Westphal told DW the situation is "catastrophic."
The NGOs that chartered the Aquarius cited a "smear campaign" by European governments as the reason for its ceasing operations. The ship has been stranded in Marseille since losing its registration.
Italy has ordered the seizure of the migrant rescue ship Aquarius for alleged illegal waste treatment, Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontiere MSF) said Tuesday.
Seventeen of the 58 migrants who were picked up at sea by the rescue ship Aquarius at the end of September have now arrived in France. They have been taken in by four departments in the country’s east.
The migrant rescue organization SOS Mediterranee said on Friday that its headquarters in the French city of Marseille had been "attacked" by far right activists. Meanwhile, thousands of people attended rallies across Europe on Saturday to show solidarity for the NGO and its rescue mission.
Five international human rights organizations have launched an appeal to ask European leaders to support migrant-rescue ship Aquarius to ensure it has a flag, so it can resume its activity in the Mediterranean.
The Aquarius has docked at the port of Marseille, carrying with it uncertainty about the future of migrant rescue missions. But even as the humanitarian vessel ends operations indefinitely, some see hope on the horizon.
After spending days on the rescue ship Aquarius, a group of 58 migrants was transferred to a Maltese patrol boat and taken on the island. The charity-run ship is keeping out of port after losing its Panama registration.
The Doctors without Borders (MSF) ship Aquarius may soon set sail without its flag, which could prevent the ship from carrying out its rescue missions. The organization is making a plea to 'all governments' to solve the issue.