The first migrant-rescue ship operated by the Italian NGO Emergency in the central Mediterranean has been inaugurated at the ancient port of Genoa, in the north-west of the country.

The boat, called 'Life Support', was open to the public on Friday and Saturday, October 21 and 22.

Painted on its hull is one of Emergency founder Gino Strada's most well-known phrases: "Human rights must belong to everybody, really everybody, otherwise we call them privileges."

The ship is due to set sail at the beginning of November in the search-and-rescue zone off Libya's coast, but it is ready to operate across the entire central Mediterranean.

Vessel can host up to 175 people, in addition to crew members

The boat was first built 10 years ago to support Norwegian oil rigs. It measures 51,3 meters in length, is 12 meters wide and weighs 1,346 tons.

The organization Emergency bought it thanks to private donations and reconverted it through the San Giorgio shipyard in Genoa. "It was one of Gino Strada's dreams", members of the organization said at the inauguration.

It can host up to 175 shipwrecked people, along with 27 members of personnel, including 10 crew members, 15 support staff and two aides.

The ship has a covered deck to host migrants featuring a clinic with a doctor, two nurses and two cultural mediators.

'A pledge to fill the void left by Italy and EU'

Rossella Miccio, the president of Emergency, said the organization wanted to "open the ship to the public to show how we will work when we are at sea as well as to offer an occasion to reflect on the need for migration policies safeguarding human lives".

"This new commitment will contribute in filling the void left by Italy and the European Union", she concluded.