In a written ordinance, ENAC said the planes were “unwarranted,” represented a burden for the official rescue teams and risked compromising the safety of undocumented migrants.
Seriously? What mental gymnastics went into that excuse?
I distinctly remember a news from years ago of a small town mayor from Southern Italy, who was warmly and openly welcoming migrants to prevent depopulation and revive his town, but was arrested for whatever reason. Granted, there could be more to nuance to this, but this also happened during the time when Mateo Salvini's far-right party is in a coalition government (now the Italian government is firmly on the further right with Georgia Meloni as PM in coalition with Salvini). So, the arrest of that small town mayor is probably politically motivated and sending signal to toe the line and with far-right policies.
As far as I remember, the mayor was arrested because he colluted with mafia and stole the money needed for the migrants, but feel free to keep your narrative
So the planes aren't searching for migrants. They are just going for a nice Mediterranean sight-seeing trip! But if they see boats in distress, it's their duty to report them! And if the airport denies their landing because they are doing their due diligence, well I guess they didn't plan to have to fly an extra hour away so now they don't have the fuel to make it there. Time for an emergency landing which pretty much every airport respects.
Since italy pays those countries to "guard their coasts", there have been many instances where peoples were forced to board these ships and "charity ships" were notified before hand in a sort of human-traffic type of business that makes profitable to enlarge the issue, there are multiple sides to these stories, It's not that simple unfortunately...not that I agree with what Italy is currently doing rn of course
That "charity ship” claim is a fabrication by right-wing media that has no basis in truth and has been even thrown out of court in Italy. Please stop perpetuating such lies.
What is actually happening is that they are paying Libyanese mafia militia for illegal push back operations and they don't want witnesses for that.
If I understand correctly, they are just not letting the planes belonging to the charities to fly out of those fields. So it's not the landing that's prohibited, it's they can't base themselves there.
Also, you technically are required to take an extra hour of fuel because airports close all the time. In theory, the airport has the right to tell you to land it in the field sonewhere.
Not that I support the Italian government in this shady shit.
Italy said that planes used by charities to track migrant boats in difficulty would no longer be able to fly from airports on the islands of Sicily, Pantelleria and Lampedusa that are close to the shipping routes.
The decision, announced by the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), will make it much harder for non-governmental groups like Sea Watch to use its small planes to scour the central Mediterranean for boats in need of rescue.
In a written ordinance, ENAC said the planes were “unwarranted,” represented a burden for the official rescue teams and risked compromising the safety of undocumented migrants.
Flavio Di Giacomo, a spokesman for the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the Italian decision “may hinder life-saving efforts”, and added that his agency was “waiting to understand its actual implementation.”
Since then, her government has made it increasingly difficult for charity ships to operate in the Mediterranean, limiting the number of rescues they can carry out and often forcing them to make huge detours to bring migrants ashore.
She has also worked with the European Union to persuade both Libya and Tunisia to slow the flows, and has signed an unprecedented deal with Albania to build migrant holding centres there.
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independent.co.uk
Heiß