Migrant Rescue NGO Wins a Legal Battle Over Italian Port Calls

A court in Trapani, Italy has handed the migrant rescue NGO community a symbolic but potentially consequential win. In a ruling this week, the presiding judge lifted a detention order on a rescue ship that had refused to divert to a distant port for disembarkation. The judge censured Italy's interior ministry for imposing an excessive penalty and praised the “humanitarian and solidarity objectives” pursued by the vessel's operators.

Starting in February 2023, Italy enacted new regulations controlling the operations of the fleet of NGO rescue vessels combing the Mediterranean. The law - known as the "Piantedosi Decree" for interior minister Matteo Piantedosi - requires humanitarian rescue ships to head to port immediately after each rescue, foregoing additional rescues even if they are next to other people in distress. Italian authorities can also designate distant ports of disembarkation, adding days of transit without regard to weather or the condition of the survivors. Captains and NGOs are liable for fines of up to $50,000 and vessel detention for violations of the decree.

In August, Mediterranea pulled into port in Trapani, Sicily after a rescue of seven adult migrants and three teenagers off Libya. This violated an instruction from the Italian interior ministry, which had ordered the captain to call at Genoa, three days and 500 nautical miles further to the north. The decision to ignore the ministry's order and call in Sicily was deliberate, the group's leaders said. "We chose to reassert the basic principle which today is not to be taken for granted: that dignity and human life come before any other consideration," said Mediterranea president Laura Marmorale at the time.

The interior ministry swiftly handed the vessel 60 days of administrative detention and a €10,000 fine for delivering the rescuees to an unauthorized port. In response, the master and owner of Mediterranea filed suit in Trapani to get the detention lifted, and the judge in the case has issued an initial ruling in their favor.

Judge Federica Emanuela Lipari ruled that Mediterranea's decision to call at Trapani was a sensible choice for those on board, "taking into account their vulnerable and fragile condition" and in alignment with "the objectives of protecting life and health at sea." She took the Interior Ministry to task for "the illegality of the measure" of the penalty assessed on Mediterranea, and described the NGO's solidarity mission as "particularly worthy of protection."

The court case continues; in the interim, Mediterranea will soon return to sea.