Council of Europe Commissioner for
Human Rights Dunja Mijatović called on Rome to guarantee
migrants in distress at sea are rescued in a report released
Thursday based on her visit to Italy from June 19 to 23.
"Italy should ensure that sufficient and adequate search and
rescue capacity can be deployed to provide timely and effective
assistance to people, including to refugees, asylum seekers and
migrants, in distress at sea," the report said.
Mijatović also said Italy should "repeal of legislation and
policies that hamper" the operations of NGO-run
search-and-rescue ships in the southern Mediterranean.
Under a decree approved at the start of the year, NGO-run ships
must immediately request the authorities assign them a port of
safety after making a rescue, rather than staying at sea to help
other people.
They risk big fines and the impoundment of the ships if they
fail to comply.
The government has also started to allocate ports of safety to
NGO ships that are some distance from their position after
making the rescues.
The Italian government is trying to discourage NGO-run ships,
saying their activities encourage small boats carrying asylum
seekers to attempt the hazardous crossing from North Africa to
Italy.
Mijatović said cooperation activities that directly or
indirectly lead to returns to Libya should be suspended, in view
of the grave and systematic human rights violations taking place
there.
She said cooperation with other countries, in particular
Tunisia, should be conditional on comprehensive human rights
safeguards, and no returns should take place without a proper
individual assessment.
The Commissioner also warned of the lack of adequate human
rights safeguards in recent the Memorandum of Understanding Rome
agreed with Tirana to set up Italian-run migrant centres in
Albania.
The report raised issues concerning journalists and the legal
protection of LGBTI people too.
The Commissioner recommended the decriminalisation of
defamation, with Italian journalists sometimes subjected to
criminal charges in relation to their work, and the broadening
of legislation against discrimination, hate crime and hate
speech to cover the rights of LGBTI people.
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