For the third time in under a week, the new government of Italy has shut its ports to vessels carrying rescued refugees from the Mediterranean, forcing these humanitarian ships to find another port of haven for the desperate and desolate on board. These refugees have risked life and limb before being rescued in their attempt to make it to European Union territory. But by turning its back on these people in their darkest hour of need, Italy’s interior minister has marked a new nadir for his nation and sparked a new crisis. Matteo Salvini, the leader of the anti-immigration party Northern League, which is a partner with the 5-Star Movement in the new Italian government, has said that his nation will no longer accept refugees picked up from the dangerous waters of the Mediterranean.
Last week, the rescue vessel Aquarius was forced to find haven for its rescued refugees in Spain after Salvini ordered Italian ports closed, since he had campaigned on a pledge to remove 500,000 refugees from Italy during the election campaign for the March elections. Clearly, Salvini is intent on showing that his government will have no truck with refugees when it comes to offering basic humanitarian needs. And that is a shame. It is a shame too that his paranoia and hate towards these refugees, mostly Muslim, and most fleeing violence across the Sahel and Levant and beyond, now extends to leaving them stranded at sea, offering not even the security of dry land.
The government in the French island of Corsica had offered to take in the refugees from the Aquarius, but Spain too offered berths, beds and a welcome for these beleaguered people. Rescue agencies and officials from Frontex, the EU’s common border agency, warn that the latest developments make the Mediterranean crossing even more dangerous now for those who flee violence and tyranny in their homelands. Yes, and now they face a hateful and cold-hearted government in Italy that is determined to make a cheap political point at the expense of human lives.
What is clear now is that the EU itself faces some tough decisions on how to deal with the flow of refugees that will not abate regardless of the actions of the Italian government. Once more, Brussels must address a realistic and humanitarian solution to the waves of desperate refugees who seek a new life free of violence and one of opportunity within its nations. Sadly, right-wing governments now in power in Europe may offer the same “No Entry” sign to those most in need.
