A few days ago, the United Kingdom's High Court concluded that the plan devised by the government for the transfer of asylum seekers to Rwanda is lawful. The decision caused much discussion and sparked much criticism from Anglo-Saxon parliamentarians, NGOs and the UN, but it seems that the project will continue.
In the European Union the question is much debated and does not seem to have found a solution shared by all the member countries so far.
In Italy, the new interior minister has declared that the government is working on one "regulatory outline to make the non-resignation that Italy is the only point of disembarkation more effective: there will be a framework of rules on NGOs such as private ships, which are now without rules and impose their actions on us".
Sources of information report that a new code of conduct for NGOs is being drawn up. These will have to immediately request a port of disembarkation and they will be required to take charge of the requests of the relief workers regarding the possible application for international protection of migrants so as to be able to allow the redistribution in the various States, depending on the flag country of the ship that rescued them.
The incomplete sharing of Community policies leads to tiresome and imprudent tug-of-war between them. The last one between Italy and France in which a certain winner does not appear.
Following the ban on docking in one of its ports imposed by Italy, what was the fate of the 234 migrants from the Ocean Viking? After disembarking in the safe area of Giens and after being interrogated, of the 189 adults, only 66 were considered in order to apply for asylum. 26 of the 44 minors housed in a dedicated reception center are instead Escaped.
A well-known lawyer1 believes that the newly constituted executive is in conflict with international law, with European regulations and with Italian jurisprudence. He claims that “according to international sources, to be interpreted in the light of the ruling of the Supreme Court in the Rackete case, and then of the subsequent judgment of the same Court in the Vos Thalassa case, Libya and Tunisia, but also Malta, are unable to promptly guarantee place of safety.” Adding that according to the Cassation the obligation to provide assistance “it does not end with the act of rescuing the shipwrecked from the danger of getting lost at sea” and entails the obligation to “land them in a safe place”.
It is often stated over and over again that the issue of migrants can and must also be addressed outside the borders of the state. Both at national and European level there are various interventions in critical areas, in particular in Africa, put in place in order to form a barrier to the so-called "Central Mediterranean route". Niger represents the key state for this purpose. Since 2014, the EU has financed projects to strengthen stability and fight the root causes of emigration Italy has had and still has a primary role, as well as with economic and diplomatic interventions we are active in that country with the MISIN operation2 (photo) which turns out to be "very important because the area is a nerve center and it is also crucial for our national interest"3.
On 16 November Hungary, Serbia and Austria signed an agreement with which they undertake to strengthen collaboration in the fight againstclandestine immigration which develops especially along the Balkan route. Austrian chancellery Karl Nehammer stated that “the EU asylum system has failed. People arriving for economic reasons should be treated differently from those seeking protection." and added the covenant is “a partnership against human trafficking”. Serbian Vučić revealed that the contingent guarding the southern border between Serbia and North Macedonia will be implemented by the end of the year. Orbán claimed that immigration "It should be prevented, not managed" and that cooperating with Serbia is “essential for a matter of survival”.
In recent days, the debate about theillegal immigration also in the USA. The governors of southern states are expressing hostility against the Biden administration's migration policy and, in typical American style, several migrants transported by three buses were left outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris, in protest. Already in the past, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, had sent two other busloads of migrants, as had Republicans Doug Ducey and Ron De Santis, governor of Florida before him.
We are all focused on the landings on our shores without taking into consideration that within a few weeks from Ukraine millions of people have found asylum in European countries and nothing suggests that they do not continue yet.
1 Fulvio Vassallo Palaeologus
2 Bilateral support mission in the Republic of Niger
3 President of the Italian Republic in liaison with the military engaged in international missions
Photo: Ministry of Defense
