Italy toughens jail terms for smugglers after migrant shipwreck

By Giada Zampano

ROME (AA) - The Italian government on Thursday approved a new decree aimed at cracking down on human traffickers, toughening jail terms for smugglers to avoid new tragedies at sea after the one that killed at least 72 migrants last month.

In a symbolic move, the cabinet headed by Premier Giorgia Meloni met in the Calabrian town of Cutro, close to the site where on Feb. 26 a wooden boat with about 180 migrants on board broke apart a few miles from Italy’s southern coasts.

The right-wing Meloni government has been criticized for not having activated rescue forces soon enough to avoid the shipwreck, but the interior minister has staunchly rejected the accusations.

“We are here to stress that we are determined to block human traffickers, who are the ones responsible for these tragedies,” Meloni said at a news conference following the cabinet meeting.

Under the new rules, traffickers who cause the death or serious injuries to more than one migrant risk from 20 to 30 years in jail. Meloni specified that such a crime will be prosecuted also outside of Italy’s borders.

She said that the new decree will instead favor and simplify the entrance of regular migrants who have been trained in their own countries and will have the opportunity to work in Italy.

The new measures also guarantee a fast track procedure to migrants coming from third countries that promote campaigns against illegal migration.

The government has always pledged a tough stance against illegal migration. But, despite the announced crackdown, hundreds of migrants continued to arrive on Italy’s southern shores in recent months, with more than 1,300 reaching the tiny island of Lampedusa just in the past few days.