Italy bars NGO migrant rescue flights from Sicilian airport, says they interfere with coast guard

ROME (AP) — Italy’s aviation authority has barred humanitarian migrant rescue groups from using a Sicilian airport to launch search and rescue flights over the Mediterranean, in the government’s latest crackdown on their activities.

An ordinance from ENAC’s western Sicilian office said the flights interfered with the Italian coast guard’s exclusive role in coordinating search and rescue efforts and put migrant lives at risk. Non-governmental rescue groups that continue using the Lampedusa, Sicily airport risk unspecified fines and the aircraft may be seized, it said.

The ordinance marked a new effort by the government of Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni to crack down on migration from North Africa, a key campaign promise that brought her right-wing coalition to power in 2022.

The German rescue group Sea-Watch, which operates its Seabird aircraft to spot migrant boats in distress, vowed to continue its flights. It said late Tuesday that the flights were the only independent way “to document the daily violations of human rights that occur” in the Mediterranean.

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