NEW YORK: Italy’s prime minister has urged the UN to launch a “global war without mercy” against migrant smugglers, after a surge of arrivals on the island of Lampedusa.
Addressing the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said that Italy, which next year heads the Group of Seven wealthy democracies, was ready to lead efforts against the “slave traders of the third millennium.”
“Can an organization like this which reaffirms in its founding document the faith in the dignity and worth of human beings turn a blind eye to this tragedy?” she asked.
“I believe it is the duty of this organization to reject any hypocritical approach to this issue and wage a global war without mercy against the traffickers of human beings,” she said.
“To do so we need to work together at every level. Italy plans to be on the frontline on this issue.”
Meloni, who heads the post-fascist Brothers of Italy party, took office in part on pledges to crack down on migration.
Some 8,500 people landed on Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa from 199 boats between Monday and Wednesday last week, according to the UN’s International Organization for Migration.
The group is largely made up of people from sub-Saharan Africa who have gone to Tunisia, which is suffering from economic tumult and where President Kais Saied has railed against dark-skinned people.
Meloni put the blame on human traffickers, calling them a “mafia” who earn as much as drug smugglers, but said Italy would also work to address root causes and help African nations “grow and prosper.”
“Africa is not a poor continent. To the contrary, it is rich with strategic resources,” she said.
Her remarks came as German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Sicily, calling for a fair distribution of migrants who arrive in Europe.
Steinmeier, who is being accompanied by Italian President Sergio Mattarella during the two-day visit, said both Germany and Italy were “at their limits.”
“We need a fair distribution in Europe and stronger controls and surveillance at our external borders,” he told Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily in an interview ahead of his trip.
The focus of the trip was the awarding of a joint prize by the two presidents aimed at enhancing bilateral ties, but will also include a private visit to a migrant charity.
Germany is also dealing with “heavy immigration,” Steinmeier said, calling for “humane and sustainable European solutions.”
“We have to make every effort to make the loads sustainable and lower the number of arrivals,” he added.
