Last week Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced a new initiative targeting the activities of people-smugglers outside of Italian territory.
Many thanks to HeHa for translating this video report, and to Vlad Tepes and RAIR Foundation for the subtitling:
Below are excerpts from a Remix News report (hat tip Reader from Chicago) about Prime Minister Meloni’s announcement:
Italian Government Announces Strict New Immigration Rules, Up to 30 Years in Prison for People Smugglers
The Italian government has decided to introduce prison sentences ranging from 20 to 30 years for traffickers who cause the deaths of migrants as a part of new regulations aimed at tackling illegal immigration.
The new law was announced at a special meeting on Thursday in Cutro, which was the scene of the Feb. 26 boat disaster in Calabria.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the new regulations at a press conference after the cabinet meeting in the town of just over 10,000 inhabitants.
Video transcript:
| 00:00 | This law entails an increase in the length of the penalties for smuggling of migrants, | |
| 00:04 | but above all, the introduction of a new type of crime, | |
| 00:10 | concerning death or severe injuries as a consequence of the smuggling of migrants. | |
| 00:18 | It entails that the penalty imposed on these criminals will be imprisonment for up to thirty years. | |
| 00:30 | As in the specific case of the shipwreck of Cutro, for example. | |
| 00:34 | In the event that people die during these journeys. | |
| 00:42 | Pay attention to this detail, which I consider very important. | |
| 00:46 | Italy will prosecute this criminal offense, even if committed beyond our national borders. | |
| 00:57 | That is, whoever is held accountable for people’s severe injuries or deaths, | |
| 01:03 | while organizing human trafficking, | |
| 01:07 | will be charged with a crime that is to be considered universal. | |
| 01:15 | This means prosecuting not only the human traffickers we usually find on boats. | |
| 01:23 | It also means prosecuting the traffickers who are behind all this. | |
| 01:28 | And this is a very important detail, in my opinion. Because the Italian Government’s approach | |
| 01:33 | will completely change compared with what it has done in past years. | |
| 01:38 | Because what Italy has been doing is searching for migrants across the Mediterranean. | |
| 01:47 | What this Government will do is search for the smugglers across the globe, on land and at sea. | |
| 01:56 | Because we want to undo this trafficking. And I think this issue | |
| 01:59 | needs to be handled at the international level, too, because the more | |
| 02:02 | the various legal systems are aligned, the more beneficial it will be. |
Since these are international crimes committed on the high seas, the old anti-piracy laws should be invoked.
I like your idea.
What did the old British Navy rules say:
The Captain is master next GOD.
All on the boats should be deported
Abd incarcerated before
So there is no pull
I like Giorgia Meloni very much. I wish she were president of the United States of America.
Correction…..I wish she was president of the United States of America.
To bad we don’t have Privateers with Letters of Marque to sink them wherever they find them.