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Sea-Watch 3: Refugee ship captain arrested after defying Matteo Salvini by taking rescued migrants to port

Far-right Italian interior minister says Carola Rackete is an ‘outlaw’

Saturday 29 June 2019 17:01 BST

Carola Rackete, captain of Sea-Watch 3, is escorted off the ship in Lampedusa, Italy (Reuters)

The captain of migrant rescue ship Sea-Watch 3 has been arrested after ending a two-week standoff with Italian authorities by docking at the island of Lampedusa.

Carola Rackete defied warnings from the country’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, and rammed a border police boat blocking the path to the port.

The 40 refugees on board hugged the crew and kissed the dock when they arrived on Saturday morning.

“We are not relieved, we are angry,” said Ms Rackete in a statement. “This disembarkation should have taken place more than two weeks ago and it should have been coordinated instead of hindered by the authorities.

“European governments in their air conditioned offices have gambled with these people’s lives for more than 16 days. Not a single European institution was willing to assume responsibility, until I was forced to do so myself.”

However Mr Salvini described the captain as an “outlaw” and claimed she had put the lives of law enforcement officers at risk.

“Solidarity with women and men of the police forces and the Guardia di Finanza in particular, given that a few hours ago they risked their lives for the CRIMINAL choice of SeaWatch,” he tweeted.

“For days they have been defending the legality and the Italian borders, forced to work overtime by a pirate ship.”

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

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1/20The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Mexico

A mother washes her baby as she waits for her fast-track humanitarian visa at the Mexico-Guatemala border in Ciudad Hidalgo.

Unicef/Bindra

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Uganda

Refugee children and youngsters from host communities play at a park in Palabek Refugee settlement, during the mid-morning break. This facility is supported by Unicef with EU financial assistance – it also provides psychosocial support to refugee children as well as a place to play, learn, interact, sing and dance after all the traumatic experiences they may have gone through.

Unicef/Nabatanzi

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Jordan

Ali, two, rests on his father’s chest. His family are Syrian refugees and came to Jordan six years ago. Ali has just received his winter clothing kit from Unicef and its partner Mateen.

Unicef/Herwig

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Bangladesh

Children enjoy a ride on a homemade ferris wheel during Eid al-Ftr in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. They are celebrating the holiday in Balukhali, a Rohingya refugee camp sheltering over 800,000 people. The camp is one of the largest in the world, and is bracing for the onset of the monsoon rains.

Unicef/Modola

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Colombia

Yulis Rivas, three, draws a picture of her parents in a “Friendly Space” in Cucuta, where Unicef provides learning activities for migrant children and parents from Venezuela.

Unicef/Arcos

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Greece

A young girl holds her doll in front of her tent at the refugee camp in Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos. This is an overspill area of the camp, known as “the jungle” or “the olive grove”. In 2018, approximately 12,000 refugee and migrant children arrived in Greece by sea.

Unicef/Haviv VII Ph

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Uganda

Pupils play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in the Yumbe district of Uganda. Their school is supported by Unicef.

Unicef/Bongyereirwe

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Colombia

Hundreds of pupils cross the Venezuela-Colombia border at 5am to meet a bus that will take them to school in the Colombian city of Cucuta.

Unicef/Arcos

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Jordan

Ayman, 11 days old, receives his vaccinations in one of the Unicef-supported health clinics in Azraq refugee camp in Jordan.

Unicef/Herwig

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Ethiopia

Sabirin Nur, 18, is a Somali student volleyball captain at Unicef-supported Melkadida primary school, helping to run sessions for other pupils. Sabirin says: “As a female, many of us face challenges with our parents, like forced marriage or relatives trying to get us married. They want us to go home and be wives.”

Unicef/Ayene

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Uganda

Pupils sing and play at Bidibidi refugee settlement in Uganda, where migrants have fled from South Sudan. The centre is funded by UK aid and Plan International provides positive parenting services, early learning and recovery for children from war-related stress disorders.

Unicef/Bongyereirwe

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Syria

Khalid, 10, receives a measles vaccination in Tabqa city in Raqqa governorate. Khalid was uprooted due to escalating violence near his home, and returned a year ago.

Unicef/Souleiman

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Lebanon

Syrian refugee children in an informal settlement near Terbol in the Bekaa Valley.

Unicef/Modola

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Daily life at the refugee camp in Moria.

Unicef/Haviv VII Ph

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Colombia

A baby has checkup in a Colombian medical centre that receives support from Unicef. Every day, about 40 migrant children are vaccinated in this centre.

Unicef/Arcos

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia

Katty Baez helps her one-year-old Alfredo insert the straw into a juice box that was given to them by a stranger. Katty is traveling to Peru with her two children to meet her husband, who has been there for eight months, and does not know that the family is on the way. Katty wants to surprise him, because he has been working hard on a fishing boat and the children miss him. In this area, Unicef Ecuador is supporting the government to ensure access to safe drinking water, sanitation, education and health services.

Unicef/Arcos

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Ethiopia

Pal Biel Jany, 15, wants to be the future president of South Sudan. He goes to school in Makod primary and secondary school in Tierkidi refugee camp in the Gambella region.

Unicef/Mersha

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Lebanon

Syrian refugee children play in Housh al Refka informal settlement in Bekaa Valley.

Unicef/Choufany

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Rumichaca, border of Ecuador with Colombia

Thiago Patania, 18 months old, takes a nap in the Unicef tent next to the Ecuadorian customs office in Rumichaca, while his mother waits in line to complete the immigration procedures for her passport to be stamped. Unicef has set up temporary child-friendly spaces and rest tents, as well as supplying thermal blankets, baby kits, and hygiene kits.

Unicef/Arcos

The depth of the refugee crisis across the world

Cameroon

Twelve-year-old Waibai Buka (centre) skips rope as a friend records a video of her with a computer tablet provided by Unicef at a school in Baigai. Waibai had to flee her village after an attack by Boko Haram. She has not seen her father since the attack and fears he might be dead. Unicef initiated a pilot project in January 2017 called “Connect My School”. Six solar-powered units help provide internet to schools in different parts of Cameroon. Two of the units were installed in schools in Cameroon’s Far North region – one in Minawao refugee camp, the other in Baigai, near the Nigerian border, where some 50 per cent of children have been displaced by Boko Haram-related violence.

Unicef/Prinsloo

He said he had ordered authorities to detain the captain and seize the ship, ”which goes around the Mediterranean breaking laws”.

The far-right minister also accused left-wing politicians in Italy of “applauding” the actions of the German humanitarian organisation which owns the ship.

Democratic Party politician Graziano Delrio likened her actions to an ambulance driver “which goes through a red light” to speed ailing patients to a hospital.

Sea Watch defended the actions of the captain and accused Mr Salvini of being “cowardly”.

“We are proud of our captain, she did exactly the right thing,” said chairman Johannes Bayer. ”She followed the law of the sea and brought people to safety.

“Instead of her, Matteo Salvini should be investigated for kidnapping and violation of international law. Far too often he has cowardly avoided prosecution by counting on his immunity in parliament.”

The standoff began after Sea-Watch 3 rescued 53 people from an unseaworthy boat launched by Libya-based traffickers on 12 June.

Thirteen were taken off for medical reasons and taken to Italy for treatment but Mr Salvini refused to let the ship dock until other European Union countries agreed to take in the migrants.

The Interior Ministry said on Friday that offers had been received from Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Portugal.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

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