Migrant transport NGO Captain Carola Rackete has demanded that Europe take in all asylum seekers from Libya, a number believed to be over half a million people.
The Seas Watch captain told German media that she wanted to see Europe take in all of the migrants currently in Libya, according to German tabloid Bild, saying: “We hear of half a million people in the hands of smugglers or in Libyan refugee camps we need to get out.”
Rackete, who is currently under investigation in connection with aiding illegal migration in Italy, was arrested late last month and then released after forcing her vessel, the Sea Watch-3, into Italian territorial waters without permission and ramming a patrol boat in the process.
“As far as the accident goes, nobody was in mortal danger, that was a minor technical collision. But even politicians should not judge that, but experts alone. In general, all the excitement could have been prevented if Italy had supported us,” Rackete said.
She went on to say that Europe should also take in so-called “climate refugees” arguing that “asylum has no limit!” and went on to say: “The collapse of the climate system causes climate refugees, which we naturally have to absorb. In some African countries, caused by industrialised countries in Europe, the food base is being destroyed.”
According to Rackete, European states like Germany have a “historical responsibility” to Africa because of their colonial past. “There is a historical responsibility to accept refugees who can no longer live in their countries due to the balance of power or the climate situation,” she said.
Italian populist interior minister Matteo Salvini has spoken out against Rackete and her actions repeatedly since her arrest including last week when Rackete was awarded a medal and cash from the city of Paris.
“The municipality of Paris awards Carola Rackete, prosecuted in Italy, with a medal. This is the one driving a boat that broke the law and crushed a [Guardia di Finanza] patrol boat against the dock of Lampedusa,” Salvini said.
As a result of his comments, Rackete launched a lawsuit for slander against the League party leader earlier this month and has demanded Salvini have his social media platforms on Facebook and Twitter taken away.
Rackete briefly commented on the lawsuit in her interview with Bild saying: “I think you can not put up with everything. He has spread falsehoods and I want him to erase these untruths on Twitter and Facebook. And also that a judge tells him: ‘You can never say that again!'”