Seebrüecke flays German, Italian governments obstruction of civilian sea rescue

Seebrüecke International has condemned what it described as German,and Italian governments obstruction of civilian sea rescue.

Seebrüecke International made the remark following the detention of Open Arms, a civilian rescue ship by the Italian authorities..

“Once again, Italy detains a civilian rescue ship. This time it was the #OpenArms, which was assisting in three maritime emergencies in international waters,” Seebrüecke International said.

These, it said were coordinated by the Italian authorities and all instructions from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Rome were followed. “Now the Open Arms is not to sail for 20 days.

“At the same time, other ships, such as the #Humanity1, are being sent to distant harbours&have only been assigned a closer port due to a strong storm &multiple requests (!) from the ship. This practice also makes the work of the civilian rescue fleet considerably more difficult.

“The life-saving work of the civilian ships is immensely important in view of the lack of safe passages and the lack of state rescue structures. According to the IOM, over 3,000 people drowned or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2023 alone.”

In addition to the Piantedosi Decree, through which Italy is massively hindering civilian sea rescue, Seebrüecke International noted that the German government has now also put obstacles in the way of civilian sea rescue by approving the so-called “Repatriation Improvement Act”.

“While the coalition agreement still stated “No obstruction of civil sea rescue”, the law has now created the possibility of criminalising it.

“We demand safe passage and an end to the European policy of sealing off borders!

“The Piantedosi Decree and the associated practice of allocating distant ports and detaining civilian ships must be abolished! The same applies to the so-called “Repatriation Improvement Act”, which only plays into the hands of the #noAfD!”