Last week the boat Iuventa, belonging to German NGO (A non-governmental organisation) Jugend Rettet was confiscated by an Italian judge as it is charged with helping the smugglers to carry the refugees from North Africa to Italy. The measure was ordered following a warning by the company IMI Security Service, a group of contractors led by Mr Cristian Ricci, that contacted the Italian Foreign Secret Service (Aise) to inform them of the boat's strange movements.
Defend Europe
According to the Italian Catholic weekly publication Famiglia Cristiana, there is a relation between the company IMI Security Service and the right-wing European organisation Defend Europe.
This association has rented the C- Star, one of the boats owned by the English company Maritime Global Service, to enforce the rules in the Mediterranean sea. Indeed, while other NGOs want to help the refugees in Search and Rescue operations, carrying them to the nearest port after saving their lives, Defend Europe want to find the migrants and take them back to Lybia.
The purpose is related to a protectionistic political vision. In the opening of the association's website, it is explained the reason for their venture: illegal migrants "are endangering the security and the future of our continent.......but we are no longer looking away. We will do something against it".
The Italian regulation
To bring order into the sea, Italian Ministry of Interior promoted in the last days a regulation consisting of some points which all the NGOs have to respect.
Among the duties, the NGOs must accept on board armed Italian policemen. Not all the organisations are ready to allow it, therefore some of them didn't sign the regulation. At the same time, Italian authorities could begin to help Lybian authorities to stop the smugglers.
Asylum seeker or economic migrants?
The heart of the matter is that not all the migrants are escaping from war.
A lot of them are only looking for a better life. But according to the Italian law, only the people that don't have "democratic freedom" in their country could be accepted. It's the same distinction made a few weeks ago by the French President Emmanuel Macron, who explained that only asylum seekers could be helped, not all the economic migrants.
However, in Africa, the economic problems have eventuated into wars. This distinction is not so clear, above all in the middle of the sea, where the life of all the people is in danger.
