German aid group Sea Watch said Tuesday it has filed a case at the European Human Rights Court against Italy for refusing to allow its ship carrying 47 rescued migrants to dock.
The German NGO's spokesman Ruben Neugebauer said the group had taken the drastic step on Friday because of Rome's hardline attitude against the mainly sub-Saharan migrants that its ship Sea Watch 3 pulled out of the Mediterranean on January 19.
Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is "taking the people on board as political hostages", said Neugebauer.
"They are trying to push it to the Netherlands," he added, referring to Salvini's insistence that the Netherlands or Germany take responsibility for the migrants.
Sea Watch 3 is sailing under the Dutch flag and currently sheltering from bad weather off Sicily. It picked up the migrants and asylum-seekers -- including eight minors -- off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.
Neugebauer stressed that laws governing international waters are clear that ships in distress "must be brought to the nearest safe harbour".
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday urged the Italian government to "take all necessary measures, as quickly as possible", to provide migrants on board the Sea-Watch 3 with medical care, water and food.
- 'Humane solutions' -
Migrants rescued by ships have frequently been left in limbo since Italy's anti-immigration government began turning them away last summer.
Europe has been wrestling with divisions over how to handle the problem since the migration crisis of 2015 when more than one million people arrived on its shores, many of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
Salvini, who has warned that he was considering legal action against Sea Watch's crew, said Tuesday that the 47 migrants can disembark if they agree to leave for Germany or the Netherlands.
"Disembarking of migrants? Only if they head for the Netherlands, whose flag the Sea Watch boat is flying, or to Germany, the country of the NGO," he said on Twitter.
"In Italy we have already received, and spent, too much."
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for the need for "humane solutions" for migrant rescue operations and urged that migrants be allowed to disembark at the nearest port, in this case "in Italy".
He said sharing of the care of migrants came after, and that France was committed to that principal.
In a similar case earlier this month, the EU struck a deal to share out between eight European countries nearly 50 migrants stranded aboard two ships, one of which was Sea Watch 3.
The Netherlands on Monday rebuffed Italy's call to take in the 47 migrants, arguing that Dutch-flagged ship had acted "on its own initiative".
"It was up to the captain of Sea Watch 3 to find a nearby port to disembark the 47 migrants he had on board," said the Dutch government.
Some 113,482 migrants crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe last year, according to the UN refugee agency, which said 2,262 people lost their lives or went missing making the perilous journey.
German aid group Sea Watch said Tuesday it has filed a case at the European Human Rights Court against Italy for refusing to allow its ship carrying 47 rescued migrants to dock.
The German NGO’s spokesman Ruben Neugebauer said the group had taken the drastic step on Friday because of Rome’s hardline attitude against the mainly sub-Saharan migrants that its ship Sea Watch 3 pulled out of the Mediterranean on January 19.
Italy’s Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is “taking the people on board as political hostages”, said Neugebauer.
“They are trying to push it to the Netherlands,” he added, referring to Salvini’s insistence that the Netherlands or Germany take responsibility for the migrants.
Sea Watch 3 is sailing under the Dutch flag and currently sheltering from bad weather off Sicily. It picked up the migrants and asylum-seekers — including eight minors — off the coast of Libya as they made the treacherous Mediterranean crossing.
Neugebauer stressed that laws governing international waters are clear that ships in distress “must be brought to the nearest safe harbour”.
The Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) on Tuesday urged the Italian government to “take all necessary measures, as quickly as possible”, to provide migrants on board the Sea-Watch 3 with medical care, water and food.
– ‘Humane solutions’ –
Migrants rescued by ships have frequently been left in limbo since Italy’s anti-immigration government began turning them away last summer.
Europe has been wrestling with divisions over how to handle the problem since the migration crisis of 2015 when more than one million people arrived on its shores, many of them fleeing conflict in the Middle East.
Salvini, who has warned that he was considering legal action against Sea Watch’s crew, said Tuesday that the 47 migrants can disembark if they agree to leave for Germany or the Netherlands.
“Disembarking of migrants? Only if they head for the Netherlands, whose flag the Sea Watch boat is flying, or to Germany, the country of the NGO,” he said on Twitter.
“In Italy we have already received, and spent, too much.”
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called for the need for “humane solutions” for migrant rescue operations and urged that migrants be allowed to disembark at the nearest port, in this case “in Italy”.
He said sharing of the care of migrants came after, and that France was committed to that principal.
In a similar case earlier this month, the EU struck a deal to share out between eight European countries nearly 50 migrants stranded aboard two ships, one of which was Sea Watch 3.
The Netherlands on Monday rebuffed Italy’s call to take in the 47 migrants, arguing that Dutch-flagged ship had acted “on its own initiative”.
“It was up to the captain of Sea Watch 3 to find a nearby port to disembark the 47 migrants he had on board,” said the Dutch government.
Some 113,482 migrants crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe last year, according to the UN refugee agency, which said 2,262 people lost their lives or went missing making the perilous journey.
