Italian News Digest

Human Rights Violations against Migrants: The Council of Europe’s Commission on Human Rights last month criticized Italy’s policy toward migrants that forces non-governmental organizations (NGOs) operating rescue ships to dock at ports far from their rescue operations, leaving them unavailable for more rescues on the deadly seas. The policy by Italy’s current rightwing Government is meant to discourage arrivals by migrants, including refugees seeking asylum, by putting their lives at risk by the absence of rescue ships. The Government has been trying to reduce migration of North African States and human trafficking while opening up legal pathways for migration. Italian forces have rescued thousands of migrants in distress in the Mediterranean and provided care for them ashore, but the docking policy for NGOs undermines Italy’s humanitarian record. Coalition Rift over Europe: A rift has opened within the right-wing governing coalition as the Trumpist anti-migrant League Party proposes that it and its center-right allies, the Forza Italia party, join together in a group within the European Parliament with far-right anti-migrant nationalist French and German parties that are known for being more pro-Russian than pro-European or pro-Transatlantic Alliance, in order to create a united front against the ruling left. The pro-European and pro-American conservative Forza Italia has declined its coalition partners’ invitation to join with the nationalists, as nationalism is contrary to center-right principles. Pro-Family Policies: Meanwhile, the Italian Government banned the practice of naming two mothers on birth certificates while proposing a law against accepting surrogate births, which are already illegal in Italy, even from abroad, a practice usually of same-sex couples. The policies are intended to encourage children to be raised with both mothers and fathers and to avoid using women’s bodies as commodities. The Government has been promoting births to married couples to counter Italy’s population decline that would be even more pronounced and thus problematic in various ways without net migration and relatively higher fertility amongst immigrants and their descendants.