ENAC blocks NGO planes in the central Mediterranean. With a series of ordinances, in fact, the National Civil Aviation Authority orders the “ban on the operation of aircraft and NGOs in the central Mediterranean Sea” due to the “irregular migratory phenomenon by sea coming from the coasts of ‘North Africa”.
«Whoever carries out activities in the Search and Rescue field outside the provisions of the current regulatory framework – we read – is punished with the sanctions referred to in the Navigation Code, as well as with
the adoption of further sanctioning measures such as the administrative detention of the aircraft”.
“They want to prevent our planes from witnessing what is happening in the Mediterranean, but we won’t stop.” This is how Sea Watch comments on the ENAC ordinances which order the stoppage of NGO planes over the Central Mediterranean.
«The ordinances – we read in a note – have the clear aim of stopping our reconnaissance planes, i.e. the only eyes of civil society in the Mediterranean. Fundamental eyes for documenting the daily violations of human rights that occur there, including those perpetrated by the so-called Libyan coast guard through patrol boats and the resources generously given by the Italian government.”
«Stopping NGO planes – continues Sea Watch – means blinding civil society and Italian and European citizens to what is happening in the Mediterranean as a result of their governments’ migration policies. A cowardly and cynical act of those who use the criminalization of NGOs as a political propaganda tool in view of the upcoming elections for the renewal of the European Parliament. We will not stop our operations even if it means endangering our aircraft. This attack which tramples on international law will not prevent us from continuing to annoy those who would like what happens daily in the Mediterranean to remain secret and without photos and videos to document it.”
