Banksy ship saving migrants at sea detained in Italy for 'breaking rules'

The answer is basically they can because they can.

The ship isn't picking people up and delivering them to Germany, they're picking people up and delivering them to Italy. When the ship is docked in Italy it is at the whim of the Italian authorities.

IIRC they can't have a say on what they do in international waters. They can however have a say on a German ship bringing migrants into an Italian port. It's up to the Italian authorities to accept or deny the German vessel at that point.

Unless Banksy or the German Gov. provides a shuttle transport from Italy to Germany, then that's like me going around the neighborhood rescuing stray dogs and cats and dumping them on a neighbor's yard because he's closer to where I found them. It then becomes less "me rescuing them" and more "me making it someone else's problem".

Or, you know, have some humanity and let them come ashore anyway.

NGOs are being rate limited but the coast guard is not. This is to prevent the NGOs to overload with comms and requests the coast guard, in the frequent cases in which they are already working on a rescue.

It's a little too easy rhetoric to point out that the current government is right-wing. This is a rule in place to prevent an unorderly and (even more) dangerous rescue.

> "The order was issued as a result of the findings made by IMRCC Rome (rescue coordinating authority) under Decree Law 1/2023, converted into Law 15/2023 and bearing 'urgent provisions on transit and stopover in territorial waters of non-governmental vessels engaged in rescue operations at sea.' The unit, specifically, after carrying out the first rescue operation in Libyan waters, contravened the imparted disposition to reach the port of Trapani, directing instead on 3 other units of migrants on which, moreover, under the coordination of IMRCC Rome, were already directing in rescue the means of the Italian Coast Guard."

> "The dispositions given to the NGO ship, given its small size, were also aimed at preventing it from taking on board such a number of people as to jeopardize both its own safety and that of the migrant boats to which it would provide rescue. The failure to comply with the provisions, moreover, slowed down the achievement of a port of disembarkation for the migrants rescued in the first intervention, initially identified in that of Trapani by the Ministry of the Interior, thus inducing the decision to redesign the arrival of the NGO, for reasons of safety and urgency, in the port of Lampedusa, already, moreover, solicited by the numerous arrivals of migrants in recent days."

> "To such behavior, which in itself already complicated the delicate work of coordinating relief," it goes on to read, "were added the continuous calls from the NGO air assets that overloaded the communication systems of the national relief coordination center, overlapping and duplicating the signals of the already present state air assets. Similarly, the incident cited by NGO Ocean Viking and referring to alleged Libyan coast guard gunfire that occurred in the SAR area falling under the responsibility of another national coordination center, was not being reported to the flag country as would be required by navigation safety regulations, but rather to the Italian coordination center on a continuous basis, again ending up overloading the IMRCC at particularly intensive times of ongoing relief efforts. Nevertheless, in 48 hours more than 3,300 people aboard 58 boats were rescued under the coordination of the Italian Coast Guard."

If you want to translate by yourself:

> “Il provvedimento è stato emesso a seguito degli accertamenti effettuati da IMRCC Roma (autorità coordinatrice dei soccorsi) in base al DL 1/2023, convertito nella legge 15/2023 e recante ‘disposizioni urgenti in materia di transito e sosta nelle acque territoriali delle navi non governative impegnate nelle operazioni di soccorso in mare’. L’unità, nello specifico, dopo aver effettuato il primo intervento di soccorso in acque libiche, contravveniva all’impartita disposizione di raggiungere il porto di Trapani, dirigendo invece su altre 3 unità di migranti sulle quali, peraltro, sotto il coordinamento di IMRCC Roma, stavano già dirigendo in soccorso i mezzi della Guardia Costiera italiana“.

> “Le disposizioni impartite alla nave Ong, valutate le sue piccole dimensioni, erano altresì tese a evitare che la stessa prendesse a bordo un numero di persone tale da pregiudicare sia la sua sicurezza che quella delle imbarcazioni di migranti a cui avrebbe prestato soccorso. La non osservanza delle disposizioni, inoltre, ha rallentato il raggiungimento di un porto di sbarco per i migranti salvati nel primo intervento, inizialmente individuato in quello di Trapani dal Ministero dell’Interno, inducendo così a ridisegnare la decisione in modo da far convergere l’arrivo della Ong, per motivi di sicurezza e di urgenza, nel porto di Lampedusa, già peraltro sollecitato dai numerosi arrivi di migranti di questi ultimi giorni“.

> “A tale comportamento che già di per sé complicava il delicato lavoro di coordinamento dei soccorsi – si legge ancora – si sommavano le continue chiamate dei mezzi aerei ONG che hanno sovraccaricato i sistemi di comunicazione del centro nazionale di coordinamento dei soccorsi, sovrapponendosi e duplicando le segnalazioni dei già presenti assetti aerei dello Stato. Allo stesso modo, l’episodio citato da ONG Ocean Viking e riferito ai presunti spari della guardia costiera libica avvenuto in area SAR ricadente nella responsabilità di un altro centro di coordinamento nazionale, non veniva riportato al Paese di bandiera come sarebbe previsto dalle norme sulla sicurezza della navigazione, bensì al centro di coordinamento italiano, in modo continuativo, finendo anche questo col sovraccaricare l’IMRCC in momenti particolarmente intensivi di soccorsi in atto. Ciononostante, in 48 ore sono state soccorse, sotto il coordinamento della Guardia Costiera Italiana, oltre 3300 persone a bordo di 58 imbarcazioni”.

But if we want to be more charitable, the comment could also be about how Italy tries to find ways to rescue people and dump them on the African side of the Mediterranean instead of in Italy, while the Banksy ship doesn't care about that effort.

Plus, it looks like a relatively humble boat, compared to the numerous superyachs you see a few hours sailing away in Cannes / Nice / St Tropez for instance

edit: He should just buy 10 more boats and ignore the bureaucrats. People would probably give him money to do it. (I would)