Italian media has alleged that pro-migrant activists and leftist politicians are behind an attack by the United Nations on the immigration of policy of populist Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
The 12-page letter, which is addressed to the Italian ambassador to the United Nations, slams the anti-mass migration policies enacted by Salvini regarding migrant transport NGO vessels, stating that directives from the Interior Ministry “criminalise” humanitarian search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean.
Much of the content of the letter also refers to the new security decree proposed by Salvini that will allow the Italians to confiscate NGO migrant transport ships which enter Italian territory without permission.
The letter also argues against allowing the Libyan coastguard to pick up migrants and take them back to Libya stating: “It has been widely documented in various UN reports that migrants in Libya are subjected to abuse, torture, murder, and rape so Libya cannot be considered a safe harbour for a landing.”
According to a report from Italian newspaper Il Giornale, the six signatories at the end of the letter are leftist open border advocates including Michel Forst who works with the Dublin-based NGO “Front Line Defenders,” a group which carried out work on behalf of human rights activists and seeks to defend people they label “human rights defenders at risk,” according to their website.
Katia Bellillo, another of the signatories, is said to have spent time among the Italian Communist party before moving to the left-wing Democratic Party, according to Il Giornale, while Laura Balbo is a member of the left-wing Italian Federazione dei Verdi (Green Federation) party.
Since Salvini closed Italian ports to migrant transport NGO vessels, the number of newly arriving illegal migrants has decreased substantially, to over 90 per cent compared to the previous year. As a result, fewer migrants set sail from Libya and drowning deaths in the Mediterranean have also seen a decrease since the anti-mass migration policy was enacted.
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