"The Security Decree voted by the Council of Ministers drastically reduces the chances of saving lives at sea, limiting the operation of humanitarian ships and multiplying the costs of rescue for all NGOs at sea." This is how Emergency comments on the provisions contained in the Security Decree on rescue measures at sea. "2022 ends with dramatic figures: this year alone, almost 1,400 people have lost their lives in the central Mediterranean. Faced with these terrible numbers, the provisions contained in the Decree are unacceptable because, by requiring humanitarian ships to immediately land the shipwrecked, it actually reduces the chances of making further rescues after first aid. The consequences of this measure will be an increase in the number of deaths at sea and in the number of refusals to Libya by the Libyan Coast Guard. In 2022, more than 20,000 people were rejected in Libya." "The survivors returned to Libya - continues Emergency - disappear into the circuits of human trafficking or are transferred to detention centers, where they live in inhuman conditions, subject to ill-treatment, abuse and torture now confirmed by United Nations reports, international organizations and newspapers around the world. For this reason, refusals to Libya are considered illegal and Italy has already been condemned for this by the European Court of Human Rights in 2009. The measures provided for by the Decree, moreover, will determine a potential violation of the obligation to intervene in case of reports of other ships in danger at sea, prescribed by international law; all ships, including humanitarian ones, are required to comply with it".
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