A week after dozens of migrants died when their boat capsized a few hundred metres off the Italian coast, humanitarian ships are grappling with a new "code of conduct" for rescues at sea. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right government in January forbade NGOs from carrying out "simultaneous" rescues at sea, even though ships are legally obliged to provide help during emergencies, according to international law.
Humanitarian ships, like the Ocean Viking, charted by the NGO SOS Méditerranée, which travel throughout the Mediterranean providing assistance to migrant boats, now face a much harder task.
