Roberta Pinotti: Italian Defence Minister
QUOTE: The idea of remaining indifferent, of not trying at all costs to save the lives of these people … is inconceivable for a country like Italy.
The problem of migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean, from different places and for different reasons, started five years ago and has since exploded.
The majority are pushed to migrate for economic reasons that are linked to the poverty and hunger that continues to characterize many areas in the Southern Hemisphere, accentuated in many cases by the collapse of states or by political and military crises.
Others are escaping from countries directly involved in conflicts or from repression that puts their lives at risk. There is, consequently, a certain amount of overlap between the two groups which makes it more difficult to calculate how many have the right to be considered “refugees” under international law.
The two groups mix on the boats, but, above all, they all risk death and this is the key aspect that has been a primary concern for Italy from the very start. The idea of remaining indifferent, of not trying at all costs to save the lives of these people — including women and children — is inconceivable for a country like Italy.
At the same time, pushing the boats back to their ports of departure was, and still is, impossible, because most risk sinking, because where they come from is uncertain, or worse, because they come from places where the migrants risk being killed.
The current phenomenon cannot be compared to other, international experiences, with the possible exception of the boat people from Vietnam 40 years ago. It is no coincidence that the Italian Navy organized its first humanitarian mission at that time, saving 900 lives.
When a similar situation arose with the collapse of the communist regime in Albania, it did not last long because the boats that set out were blocked by the new Albanian government, with help from the Italian government.
That brings us back to the current migration in the central Mediterranean. Now that internal political crises have been overcome in Tunisia and Egypt, sailings are more or less coming from Libya.
It is evident that this problem will not be solved until Libya has a new government that takes control of the country, and above all the coast.
This year the pressure has eased up a bit, as many people have chosen to travel through the eastern Mediterranean, Greece and the Balkans, which is a longer, but less risky route.
But the frontier closures decided by many European states may push more migrants toward the central Mediterranean route.
Italy has been calling for many years for more attention to be paid to the Libyan question and the entire Mediterranean region. It has pushed for this at NATO, including at the Wales summit last year, at the European Union and at conferences of heads of government, foreign ministers and defense ministers.
Thanks to the launch of the Italian naval operation Mare Nostrum — which helped 156,000 migrants and continues in the form of a second operation, Mare Sicuro — as well as the European operation Triton and the successive launch of the EUNAVFOR MED operation, a first important step in this direction has been taken.
The next step must be stabilizing Libya and stopping it becoming a no-man’s land where Islamic terrorism can triumph. This is the main objective of the Italian government in the region.
Pinotti is Italy’s defense minister.
Italy’s Defense Minister: Instability in Libya Exacerbates Refugee Crisis
