Migrants: the humanitarian ship Louise Michel immobilized by Italy

Europe 1 with AFP 16:18 p.m., March 26, 2023

The German humanitarian ship Louise Michel, which rescues migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean, has been immobilized since Saturday on the island of Lampedusa by the Italian authorities, announced Sunday the NGO that chartered it. "We have still not received an official written justification for the detention" of the ship, the NGO of the same name said on its Twitter account. "We know that there are dozens of boats in distress on the outskirts of the island right now, but we are prevented from rescuing them. This is unacceptable!" she added.

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1,417 migrants missing in the Central Mediterranean in 2022

Since taking office in October 2022, the Italian executive, with a far-right majority, has multiplied the obstacles to the operations of humanitarian ships in the Mediterranean and engaged in a showdown with its European partners to obtain from them more solidarity in the reception of migrants. A decree that came into force earlier this year requires humanitarian ships to carry out only one rescue at a time, which critics say increases the risk of death in the central Mediterranean, considered by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) the world's most dangerous migration route. The UN agency estimates that in 2022, 1,417 migrants have disappeared there.

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Thousands of migrants land on the island of Lampedusa

The Louise Michel is a former ship of the French Navy, 30 meters long, decorated by the artist Banksy, one of its sponsors. It is one of the ships plying the Mediterranean to help the tens of thousands of migrants who try to reach Europe every year, often in overcrowded makeshift boats. In recent days, thousands of them have landed on the island of Lampedusa, off the eastern coast of Tunisia, in their own boats or Italian coastguard speedboats. The Louise Michel picked up 180 people at sea before dropping them off on the island.

While NGOs transport only a small percentage of migrants, the Italian government accuses them of stimulating their arrivals and encouraging traffickers.