In the run-up to the 25 September elections, Mediterranea put ten questions to the leaders of the main parties to find out their approach to immigration. We are waiting for the answers.

To the attention of all party leaders

As you know, MEDITERRANEANEA Saving Humans is a civil society organisation that operates the civilian rescue ship Mare Jonio - the only Italian-flagged ship in the European civilian fleet - and is involved in rescue at sea and the reception and assistance of migrants on land.

We work in our country in the midst of a thousand difficulties because, as you know, respect for human rights, especially at the borders of the European Union and Italy, suffers from constant and systematic violations that are now public knowledge and the subject of numerous national and international investigations. For example, the recent deaths at sea, including women and children, are due to a failure to rescue and not to a tragic death.

In the midst of an electoral campaign, at a time when you are all busy proposing intervention programmes and "solutions" to migration policies, we would like to know if you are interested in a different approach, both with those who practise solidarity and humanitarian aid from below, but above all with the thousands of human beings who are knocking at our doors. This approach is fundamental in the search for effective and humane management: just think of the case of the Ukrainian war refugees. A solidarity-based approach made it possible to welcome 100,000 people to our country in one week, without any drama. Just as it made it possible to apply in their case the derogation from the Dublin Treaty, which has caused and is still causing so much damage to the principle of sharing the Italian reception effort and to the right of people's mobility.

We would like to avoid wasting your time and ours in the middle of an election campaign like this one. We are only interested in understanding what your real intentions will be when you are part of the new Parliament or the new government of the country.

So we have come up with 10 questions for you to answer: the deadline for your answers is midnight on Tuesday 20 September. The following day, Wednesday 21 September, we will publish all the answers and the list of those who refused to answer.

The 10 questions

1. If you form a government, will you commit to immediately cease cooperation with the so-called Libyan Coast Guard, including its funding and arming, as requested by the Council of Europe in a formal letter to our country dated 21 February 2020?

2. Do you consider 'civil rescue', both at sea and on land, to be a crime of 'aiding and abetting illegal immigration'?

3. Do you support the immediate and urgent re-establishment of a mission such as Mare Nostrum and cooperation with civil fleet organisations at sea?

4. Do you agree to repeal Law 189 of 30 July 2002 (Bossi-Fini) and guarantee safe and legal migration routes for all migrants?

5. Italy can receive 142,000 Ukrainian refugees in 6 months, but cries invasion for the 60,000 people who will land in Italy in 2021. Will you work in all national and international fora to ensure that the European reception system, which has been applied in recent months to Ukrainian citizens, is recognised for all those who qualify, regardless of their country of origin?

6. Do you agree that Frontex, whose mandate is to assist in the search and rescue of migrants and the protection of migrants, is in fact cooperating with countries that subject migrants to inhuman and degrading treatment and expose them to the risk of death?

7. In the short term, are you committed to responding to requests and providing a safe place of disembarkation (SOP) promptly (within 24 hours) to vessels of the civilian fleet?

8. Do you recognise the need and obligation to designate a Place of Safety (PoS) for the conclusion and resolution of distress cases involving persons rescued by ships of the civil fleet, rather than a Port of Disembarkation (PoD), a concept that refers to passengers and cargo and does not reflect the actual shipwreck status of those rescued?

9. Do you undertake, also in the short term, to ensure prompt intervention by the Italian GC in cases reported by civil society of vessels in distress inside and outside the Italian SAR zone, where there is an urgency due to serious danger to human life, in the absence of any other intervention?

10. Will you work in national and international fora to put an end to the European policy of external borders and refoulement, including in Bosnia, Morocco, Turkey and all other contexts where human rights violations are committed against people trying to enter Europe?

MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans
17 September 2022