Standoff as Italy stops male migrants from

disembarking rescue ship

 Published

 1 hour ago

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 Europe migrant crisis

Image source, SOS Humanity

Image caption,
Some 35 men remain on the ship after they were not allowed to disembark
A migrant rescue ship is refusing to leave an Italian port after authorities prevented 35
men from disembarking.

Children and people with medical issues were allowed to leave the Humanity 1 in Sicily after it
spent two weeks requesting port access.

Two other rescue boats remain at sea.

The new Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, has promised to crack down on migrants
travelling across the Mediterranean from North Africa.

Italy is one of the main entry points into Europe and since the start of the year 85,000 migrants
have arrived on boats, according to the UN.

Many of the migrants set sail in small boats and are rescued by charity vessels during their
journey.

In total 144 people were allowed to disembark the Humanity 1, which sails under a German flag,
on Sunday morning.

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said those who did not qualify as vulnerable would
have to leave Italian waters and should be taken care of by the "flag state".

However, the ship's captain is refusing to leave the port in Catania "until all survivors rescued
from distress at sea have been disembarked", said SOS Humanity, the German charity that
operates the ship.

In a series of tweets, the charity added that "the law of the sea obliges him [the captain] to bring
all those rescued from distress to a safe place.

"Survivors have the right to an individual protection check, which can only be done on land.
Rejecting the 35 people seeking protection aboard Humanity 1 from territorial waters is a form
of collective refusal and is therefore illegal."

In tweets posted later on Sunday, SOS Humanity said it would launch legal action against the
Italian government on Monday, claiming Italy's actions violate European law and the Geneva
Refugee Convention.

It added it was unlawful to not let all the migrants disembark and it would also launch legal
proceedings in Catania, to allow those who remained on board the vessel to disembark and begin
asylum applications.

Humanitarian groups and two Italian politicians have travelled to Sicily to protest against the
process.
"Free all the people, free them,″ Italian lawmaker Aboubakar Soumahoro said, calling the
government's new policy "inhuman".