Mission 14 of MEDITERRANEANEA Saving Humans has set sail

MARE JONIO, the ship of MEDITERRANEA Saving Humans, set sail from the port of Trapani last night, heading towards the central Mediterranean for its fourteenth monitoring and observation mission at sea. It is the only Civil Fleet vessel flying the Italian flag.

After weeks of continuous checks by the Italian authorities (the last inspection on board took place two hours before departure), despite threats of criminal consequences up to arrest if all 'rescue equipment and supplies' were not offloaded from the ship, we finally set sail. On-board head of mission Sheila Melosu said 'We are happy to be able to return to sea. In recent months, the Civil Fleet ships have rescued thousands of people in danger, tens of thousands have been rescued by the Italian Coast Guard or managed to arrive independently, but unfortunately since the beginning of the year more than 2300 have lost their lives in the Mediterranean. In the coming hours we will finally be back where we need to be. Because at sea even one more ship makes the difference between life and death."

The Mare Jonio, active since October 2018 in the central Mediterranean, returns on mission at a grotesque moment in the political debate in our country and in Europe. After the events of Lampedusa, with thousands of people crammed into the hotspot, the Meloni government has passed yet another Decree that tramples on the rights of migrant people. The Italian government's only recipe in the face of people on the move seems to be that of rejection by proxy entrusted to the Libyan militias or the Tunisian regime, of detention for those who disembark and of an unworthy and punitive reception. All practices and norms that melt away with all their illegitimacy as soon as they are tested in the courts of law.

In this climate, "the government has tried to create every kind of bureaucratic measure to prevent the MARE JONIO from returning to sea.", says Laura Marmorale, president of MEDITERRANEANEA Saving Humans, "In reality, the will to stop the only Civil Fleet ship flying the Italian flag is clear from the government propaganda that criminalises migrants and those in solidarity with them. The same will that seeks to remove from the sea the inconvenient witnesses of the collaboration with Libya and Tunisia. But we did not surrender and now here we are, back in the Mediterranean, where we need to be'.