Immigration in Italy between two elections : myths and reality

Abstract

On 2 July 2019 Captain Carola Rackete, a German national, was released from house arrest by the judge for preliminary investigation in Agrigento. The judge dismissed charges brought against Ms Rackete of violence against an Italian military vessel and resistance to public officials arising from the alleged manner in which she entered the port of Lampedusa to land a group of about fifty migrants she had rescued some days beforehand. The judge considered that Rackete’s actions were lawful because she had acted for the »fulfilment of a duty established by international law regarding rescue at sea of people in danger, which is not limited to taking on board castaways, but includes landing them in a place of safety«. The case concerned a rescue operation involving the ship Sea Watch 3, which sails under the Dutch flag in the Strait of Sicily with the purpose of saving migrants in distress at sea. In June, the Sea Watch 3 had to remain at sea for 16 days awaiting authorisation to dock in a place of safety and land the people it had rescued. In the end, the Captain of the ship decided to defy an order of the Italian authorities forbidding her from entering Italian waters and made her way to the port of Lampedusa, where she collided with a ship of the Guardia di Finanza. Here, she was arrested and charged according to legislation passed just a few days previously.