Weltschmerz à Gogo<p>Doctors Without Borders is suspending its Mediterranean rescue operation due to restrictions imposed by the Italian government under Giorgia Meloni.</p><p>====</p><p>In the past two years, Geo Barents faced four sanctions by the Italian authorities, imposing a total of 160 days of detention in port. These punitive measures came under the Piantedosi Decree, a law that was introduced by the Italian government in the beginning of 2023 that limits the operations of non-governmental (NGO) rescue ships in the Mediterranean Sea and undermines the maritime historical humanitarian and legal duty to save lives at sea. This month, Italy further intensified the sanctions by making it easier and faster to confiscate humanitarian search and rescue vessels.</p><p>The practice of Italian authorities of assigning distant ports, frequently in the north, to disembark people rescued at sea has further undermined the capacity of the Geo Barents to save lives at sea and be present where it is needed the most. Since the implementation of the Piantedosi Decree, the Geo Barents has spent half a year navigating to and back from distant ports instead of assisting people in distress.</p><p>In June 2023, the Italian authorities instructed the Geo Barents, which can fit to up to 600 people on board, to head to La Spezia, in the north of Italy, to disembark 13 survivors. This amounted to navigating more than 600 miles, despite the availability of much closer ports.</p><p>“After careful consideration, we have come to the conclusion that it is untenable to operate the Geo Barents under such absurd and senseless Italian laws and policies,” said Gil. “The rescue capacity of humanitarian vessels has been significantly underutilized and actively undermined by the Italian authorities.”</p><p><a href="https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/msf-pauses-search-and-rescue-operations-mediterranean-indefinitely" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://www.</span><span class="ellipsis">doctorswithoutborders.org/late</span><span class="invisible">st/msf-pauses-search-and-rescue-operations-mediterranean-indefinitely</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MSF" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>MSF</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/PiantedosiDecree" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>PiantedosiDecree</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/migration" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>migration</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/FortressEurope" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>FortressEurope</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SeaRescue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SeaRescue</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Meloni" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Meloni</span></a></p>