Helping Asylum Seekers a ‘Humanitarian Imperative’: Enzo Moavero

Rome: Helping African and Middle Eastern asylum seekers who cross the Mediterranean in search of safety is a “humanitarian imperative”, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi has said. In his keynote speech at the 4th annual Mediterranean Dialogues Conference (MED) which kicked off here on Thursday, Moavero Milanesi appeared to criticize the policies of the right-wing populist government he serves, Xinhua reported.

The right-wing government won the general election in March by promising voters it would put “Italy First”, and which has banned international migrant-rescue NGOs from the country’s ports and cracked down with raids, police round-ups, and prosecutions on asylum seekers and anyone who tries to help them. “First and foremost, there are humanitarian priorities and imperatives,” he said in reference to migration. The second keynote speaker, Iraqi President Barham Salih, said that Iraq is trying to rebuild itself after suffering “the trauma of war, conflict, sanctions, repression, economic mismanagement and corruption” for decades. (IANS)