“The Cutro massacre taught us nothing. This is the most dramatic thing. History repeats itself, indeed, considering the number of missing, I would say that it gets worse. He goes on with condolences, mourning the dead as we witness the systematic violation of fundamental principles and of the rules established by the law of the sea”. the lawyer
Francesco Verri, the lawyer who represents the families of 27 victims of the shipwreck of Cutro which cost the lives of over 90 people last February, including about thirty minors. The day after the new massacre of migrants this time off the coast of Greek coastswhere an old fishing boat with hundreds of migrants on board, perhaps 750, departed from Tobruk to reach Italy, capsized – at the moment 79 bodies have been recovered and a hundred survived – the lawyer says he is “stunned”.
“Again, according to what I have been able to read from the newspapers, it seems to me that they have been sighted but that it is not a rescue operation never started – He says -. Once again, and I don’t understand why, the authorities have stalled. The reconstruction of the facts seems to me quite similar to what happened off the coast of Crotone”. A boat carrying migrants is in danger of “default”, underlines the lawyer Verri. Because, “as reiterated a 2019 recommendation by Commissioner for human rights at the Council of Europe, is overcrowded, old and unfit to keep the sea, operated by inadequate staff and without life jackets – says the lawyer -. This gives rise the obligation for anyone who is in a position to do so to intervene. Recently, in front of the Justice Commission of the European Parliament, the director of Frontex said it explicitly: human traffickers organize extremely dangerous journeys aboard carts that do not comply with any safety standards and don’t care about the life of those they transport”.
“In three months we witness two missed interventions – denounces the lawyer again -. Once again the boat is sighted and, instead of coordinating an immediate intervention, the authorities ‘monitor’ it, intervening with massive means – which they therefore prove they have – only when it sinks. The idea that we can intervene when these boats go down and that only then does the danger arise legally insane. When the boat runs aground and capsizes, it’s too late. The precautionary principle requires us to prevent the disaster, not to intervene when it has already taken place”.
For the lawyer Verri there is no margin of doubt. “The rules are clear: one boat which carries migrants And always in danger
or and is rescued. In front of a report from Frontex, the warning light must come on and whoever is in a position to intervene – due to proximity to the target or the availability of means – must leave immediately. This is written all over the place. Instead, we continue to wait and act when the irreparable has happened. But the sea does not give time. Without life jackets, at the mercy of the waves and offshore, how can these people save themselves? The tragedy off the Peloponnese is identical to that of Cutro, perfectly superimposing them and, I fear, it may not be the last”. (by Rossana Lo Castro)
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