Statement on Proposed Border Rules

Statement in regard to Italian government’s consideration of drastic changes to border rules.

Closing Italian ports to NGO rescue ships will be another obstacle to the safety of thousands of people.

We continue to ignore that, today, rescue operations at sea are the only real measure to avoid the deaths of men, women and children fleeing from their countries in search of protection from war, poverty and persecution.

In the absence of secure access channels, we ask Europe to respect the decisions taken on the relocation of migrants to other countries and to take on the responsibility of managing the arrival of those who land on our shores.

Otherwise, migrants will continue to pay the price of their indifference to one of the major humanitarian crises in recent years.