In the past, the Italian government reportedly blocked Sea-Watch ships carrying large numbers of migrants.
Sea-Watch 4 is headed by four different humanitarian groups, including Doctors Without Borders.
Commenting on the blockade, Doctors Without Borders has said “The Sea-Watch 4 is only at sea because of the absence of state-led search and rescue capacity at the world’s deadliest sea border,” further adding that Europe is “disregarding its legal and moral duty to save lives.”
According to this year’s statistics on migrant activity, 379 people have perished on the journey from Libya across the Mediterranean to Europe, with 111 individuals dying in August alone.
The spat between the Italian government and European NGO’s is far from the first occurrence as the migrant issue continues to be a prevalent political issue throughout the EU with one group arguing Europe lacks the capacity to take migrants in and another arguing it is a humanitarian duty.
Either way, immigration has become one of the biggest political issues of our time.
