Italian NGO reports Malta to two international courts

A leading Italian NGO has filed a report to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice asking them to investigate Malta’s “failures” to adhere to international maritime rules over search and rescue.

The report comes a day after the Italian government again accused Malta of abandoning its obligations in the rescue of irregular immigrants.

The Italian Coordinating Committee of Consumer Associations (Codacons) said it filed a protest with the two courts based in The Hague calling for an investigation into Malta’s failure to provide assistance in its “large” Search and Rescue (SAR) area.

The association said that between last Saturday and Sunday, Malta “once again” failed to abide by its obligations to provide assistance to a drifting boat full of immigrants, about 50 nautical miles off the Italian island of Lampedusa.

It repeated accusations made on Sunday by Italy’s Interior Minister Roberto Maroni: that Malta had “washed its hands” of a boat in distress with 209 migrants aboard in the island’s SAR zone and that it had passed the buck to the Italian authorities.

Codacons said it wanted the ICC to probe whether Malta was in breach of the 1978 Hamburg Convention on the obligations of member states with regards to SAR.

The Italian organisation said the two courts should see whether Malta’s failures were in contempt of international maritime law and whether the island was failing to provide assistance, as it was obliged to do, in its large SAR zone.

Last year, Italy had accused Malta of not being in a position to provide assistance in its search and rescue zone, saying it was ready to assume control of parts of it. The Maltese government vehemently ruled out accepting such an offer.

The government denied the latest accusations made by Mr Maroni and said Malta had in fact coordinated the search and rescue mission together with the Italian and Tunisian authorities.

Malta said the drifting boat of immigrants was indeed in its SAR area but it was 126 nautical miles away from Malta and just 50 nautical miles south of Lampedusa.

Malta has always adopted the position that according to international maritime law, it is responsible for the coordination of SAR activities in its area but immigrants found at sea have to be disembarked at the closest safe port.

Italy contests this interpretation. Yesterday, the issue was also taken up by the European Commission, which said it was ready to mediate between Malta and Italy.

EU Home Affairs Commissioner spokesman Marcin Grabiec said the Commission was conscious of the difficulties Malta and Italy faced and that “we have already shown our gratitude to the Italian authorities for their intervention to save lives”.

However, he stressed that both countries had to continue to coordinate their actions as much as possible to provide assistance for those in danger.