The CEI dismantles the NGOs’ Code of (non)conduct: “It will fall soon, built on nothing”

The security decree “is built on nothing” and for this reason “it will soon fall”. The squeeze on humanitarian ships is “paradoxical”. Because “the first consideration to make is
whether the NGOs are the problem of Italy’s security or if instead it is the NGOs that save people”. of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi and by the Meloni government on the subject of immigration.

The words are those of Gian Carlo Perego, archbishop of Ferrara-Comacchio, president of the Migrantes foundation and of the CEI commission for migrations, but coincide with the doubts and perplexities that have arisen from many quarters in recent days, to condemn the critical issues of a provision that seems written to agitate an identity flag, rather than an effective regulation of the issue. A mess, as we have defined it on these pages, the content of which risks clashing with international regulations, even violating the law of the sea.

“It is not clear why a ship that has saved people on board and which encounters others on its way cannot and should not stop to save them”, wonders Monsignor Perego, interviewed by Vatican news – the official press of the Church -, referring to the norm that allows rescuers to carry out a single intervention, before going to the port assigned by the authorities. “There is not a word about the safety of people in danger and on the run. It is a decree that forgets people“, adds Perego. But on the other hand, what Piantedosi wanted is the result of a reasoning that we base “on a false signal of insecurity”. to those who cross the Mediterranean, only 10 percent of migrants arrive in Italy rescued by humanitarian organizations.

Indeed, in many cases, they have announced disobedience to the new rules, “We will continue to save lives, in compliance with international and national law“, Emergency announced yesterday. “We will not stop, as indeed we have never done. There are international laws that regulate our business and which fortunately still defend the rights and life of every human being”, is the specular point of view of Open arms, which also includes Doctors Without Borders and Sea-eya, flying the flag German, that “it will not follow any illegal code. We expect the government in Berlin to protect us.”

In the meantime, the 113 migrants, including over 30 unaccompanied minors, of the Ocean Viking are expected in Ravenna tomorrow. Initially they were supposed to go to Liguria, to La Spezia. Then came the new communication to Emilia-Romagna, lengthening the journey. Another choice of dubious humanitarian logic, so much so that Stefano Bonaccini, president of the region that will welcome them, wonders: “Why force these people to stay at sea for four more days, making them circumnavigate Italy from the upper Tyrrhenian to the Upper Adriatic?”. The suspicion is that it is, again, a decision dictated by political opportunism.