by The NGO migrant taxi fleet operating in the Mediterranean has picked up and dropped off more than 10,000 migrants in the European Union this year, mostly landing in Italy.
The various NGO ships have disembarked more than 10,000 migrants in the first nine months of 2022, up from just 6,000 in 2021, with a total of seven NGO ships operating in the Mediterranean Sea, with more ships expected to depart.
The number of migrants picked up and disembarked by NGO ships represents about 14 percent of the total number of migrants who have disembarked in Italy by sea this year, amounting to more than 71,000 according to UNHCR statistics.
According to a report by the European Union-funded website InfoMigrants, many NGOs are preparing for the incoming right-wing government led by conservative firebrand Giorgia Meloni, whose party, Fraternity of Italy (FdI), came first last month. elections.
Italy could see 100,000 illegal boat migrant arrivals in 2022 if current rate continues https://t.co/AUY4eia9yj
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) September 4, 2022
SOS Humanity, a German-based NGO, claimed it was “deeply concerned” at the prospect of a centre-right government and said it expected the new government to actively prevent immigration.
“During the election campaign, it became clear that the human rights of international refugees do not count and that non-governmental search and rescue organizations are threatened with mass exclusion,” the NGO said in a statement.
During the election campaign, Ms Meloni suggested a naval blockade could be a solution to the surge in illegal migrant arrivals Italy has seen this year, which saw more migrants arrive in July alone than in all of 2019 and has already seen more arrivals in the first nine months of this year than in all of 2021.
“The brothers of Italy are proposing a naval blockade because, as we have explained a thousand times, it is a matter of a European mission in agreement with North African states to stop — with them — human trafficking and to create management hotspots on African territory alongside the European Union for to assess asylum claims and distinguish between those who are entitled to asylum and international protection from those who are not,” Meloni said earlier this year in August.
Polls show a solid lead for the right-wing alliance in Italy’s Sept. 25 election, with Meloni’s conservatives promising help for families to stem declining birth rates and populist Salvini vowing action on immigration. https://t.co/uIruUf7XvR
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) September 2, 2022
