Matteo Salvini did not hesitate: with the issuing of directive no. 14100/141(8) (decreto sicurezza 2), lives at sea must be safeguarded onlywhen the national Maritime Rescue Coordination Center formally assumes its responsibility for such operations. Since 2015, both the EU and Italy decided that leaving people to die at sea would be effective for the discouragement of departures. However, due to the desperate situation of the migrants who flee their countries of origin, departures have in fact not decreased and are often conducted by illegal traffickers.
Unwilling to follow Salvini and other European leaders’ restrictive policies, several NGOs are still devoted to bringing migrant boats to European ports and are ready to defy the populist trend arising in the EU in the last years. It happened with the rescue ship Aquarius, which hosted over 600 migrants, in June 2018: the Spanish Prime Minister decided to offer a safe port in Valencia after Salvini’s refusal to allow its entrance into Italian waters.
This time, the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy and Minister of the Interior decided to comply with his threat to fine anyone who would ‘break’ the rules set in the above-mentioned decree. Through the directive, any NGO that disobeys the government’s decision to close its ports and docks a vessel without explicit authorization may face sanctions of up to around €50,000 and/or up to 15 years of prison for any responsible individual.
The German-owned migrant rescue vessel Sea-Watch 3 had been stranded at the Mediterranean Sea for around two weeks. The situation had become increasingly unbearable for the 42 migrants on board, who had been previously rescued from Libya, but the Italian government still did not consider it necessary to aid these people and refused to allow the ship to dock. Despite the instructions of the Italian financial police to return the migrants to Libya and in light of the absolute silence of both EU Member States and EU institutions, Captain Carola Rackete finally decided to defy Italian orders and headed to the port of Lampedusa.
In accordance to the decree, Rackete was immediately detained and placed under house arrest, yet judge Alessandra Vella ruled that the captain had not broken the law because it was her duty to protect human life and because she had not conducted any act of violence against the national authorities. Although Rackete may still face criminal charges for disobeying the law, judge Vella ordered her immediate release.
According to the Missing Migrants Project, it is estimated that 681 migrants have lost their lives in the Mediterranean Sea since January 1st 2019. Since 2014 until today, more than 10,000 people have died in their attempt to reach Europe. The UNHCRrecords a total of 36,178 arrivals of refugees and migrants to Europe in 2019, about 28,000 of which have disembarked by sea in Spain, Italy, Greece, Malta and Cyprus.
On the basis of Articles 79 and 80of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, the EU has competence to “lay down the conditions governing entry into and legal residence in a Member State (…) for third-country nationals”, but Member States are still entitled to determine the volumes of admission. In addition, the EU may provide incentives and support for measures of integration adopted in Member States, but it does not require a harmonization between EU law and national legislation.
Despite the EU’s several initiatives to tackle irregular flows of migration, disagreements among Member States still block any possible agreements on reforms of EU asylum laws as well as on the fair distribution of responsibility for migrants and asylum seekers. Thus, instead of looking for solutions to the crisis, the EU is now mostly focused on keeping migrants and asylum seekers away from EU territory. This focus includes controversial alliances in terms of migration cooperation with third-countries such as Libya, which has fewer resources, lower standards for human rights protection, and less capacity.
The wave of populism spreading across the EU since the beginning of the migrant crisis has repeatedly showed an astonishing impassivity towards the critical situation happening not only on European coasts but also on ‘allied’ countries where migrants and asylum seekers are subject to inhumane treatment. Rackete’s behavior, as well as—partly—that of judge Vella, is an act of disobedience that happens to be the only solution to fight a system that is increasingly losing its humanity.
If disobedience is the only way to be human, then let’s disobey.
