Italy’s Ministers Get Softer on Immigrants Again, Stop Fines for Rescue Ships

Italy’s cabinet has abolished the anti-migrant decree voted in 2018, meaning that migrants and refugees who seek asylum can again apply for humanitarian protection or obtain a work permit.

“Tonight a wall comes down in Italy. We took a while, a bit too long, but now [former interior minister Matteo] Salvini’s so-called ‘security decrees’ are no longer,” says Peppe Provenzano, Minister for the South with the co-ruling Democratic Party. “Onward towards a country with more rights and more humanity”.

If charities that carry out rescues respect maritime laws and national authorities, they won’t be fined anymore. Italy has expanded its asylum requirements: protection is granted for people to risk being subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment, and having their right to private and family life violated, not only for those who risked being tortured if repatriated.