NGOs welcome Italy’s decision to accept migrants
NGOs welcome the solution that was agreed upon by the Maltese and Italian governments over fate of 102 migrants stranded at sea.
7 August 2013, 12:00am
Jurgen Balzan
Jurgen Balzan
1 min read
Migrants aboard the MT Salamis (Photo: Chris Mangion/Mediatoday)
While welcoming the Italian government's decision to take in the 102 migrants stranded on the Greek-owned tanker MT Salamis, nine organisations expressed their concern at the "lengthy process involved in reaching a decision in this case."
"We welcome the solution that was agreed upon by the Maltese and Italian Governments which resulted in bringing 102 migrants on board MT Salamis to safety, avoiding a possible humanitarian crisis," the NGOs said.
However, the statement added: "we remain concerned at the lengthy process involved in reaching a decision in this case. We would like to urge relevant stakeholders such as coastal states, the European Union, the Council of Europe and the International Maritime Organisation to work together to formulate concrete initiatives to prevent similar incidents from occurring and from processing them as swiftly and humanely as possible."
The statement was signed by aditus Foundation, JRS Malta, Migrant's Network for Equality, SOS Malta, KOPIN, Integra Foundation, Foundation for Shelter and Support to Migrants, Organisation for Friendship in Diversity and the Emigrants Commission.
The NGOs praised the Captain of MT Salamis for "fulfilling his legal and moral obligation" of saving the lives of persons seeking assistance at sea, in accordance with the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea and other legal instruments. "We hope that following this incident, other private vessels are not discouraged from fulfilling their obligations of rescuing vessels in distress," the NGOs said.
Jurgen Balzan was a MaltaToday reported from 2011 to 2017.
•
Here go the Maltese profitable NGO's riding on the Band Wagon of opportunities. I think the Captain of the Mt Salamis and the owners should be brought up on charges for disobeying a direct order put out to them by both Italy and Maltese Governments. This ship and the captain should be banned from ever entering Malta waters after he ignored the orders issued by our government. My question still remains: Why was the Captain of the tanker so reluctant to return to Libya? Did he himself have something to hide? Was this captain trafficking these illegal immigrants to start with? These are questions that must be asked. We are always suspecting that these illegal immigrants are dropped off from a big ship, so the Maltese government must investigate this possibility. It is not too far fetched.
•
Amazing how many NGOs have bloomed in our country. Good to know who they are, their statute, committee members, if they are according to NGO laws, number of members, and what is their primary source of income. Else they are not considered as NGOs.
