Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has said that the number of irregular migrant landings has decreased this summer, speaking in the wake of a double migrant shipwreck off Lampedusa last week. He said that shipwrecks can be prevented by halting irregular departures.
The double migrant shipwreck off Lampedusa last Wednesday, "because of the pain it has caused, prompts us to continue our action to prevent such journeys at sea, starting from the territories of departure", Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said on Friday, August 15, commenting on the data released by his ministry on migrant departures.
The two boats carrying mainly Pakistani, Sudanese and Somali migrants sank about 15 kilometers south of the stepping stone island, which is closer to Africa than to Italy.
"It is our duty to continue the incessant fight against the ruthless business of human traffickers. We can halt shipwrecks only by completely blocking irregular departures," he noted.
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'The number of landings has decreased'
"The Government is working in a very keen manner, also at an international level, to fight human trafficking," stressed Piantedosi.
"During the first 15 days of August, some 2,000 irregular migrants landed on Italy's coasts. They are still many but in the same period in 2024, they were 4,339, in 2023 they were 12,070".
The interior minister went on to say that such figures "confirm a trend already registered in July: landings this year are actually dropping during the summer months, when the weather is in favour for crossings."
The minister added that, since the government of Premier Giorgia Meloni has been in office, "the number of landings has drastically dropped. This year, as in 2024, they dropped by 60 percent compared to 2023. And we trust that we will fare even better. Thanks to the agreements [forged] with Libya and Tunisia in 2023, over 236,000 departures have been blocked to this day and, thanks to assisted voluntary repatriations, over the same period, more than 64,000 economic migrants have returned to their country of origin."
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'5,400 irregular migrants repatriated in 2024'
In 2024, Piantedosi also said, "we repatriated 5,400 irregular" migrants, "a figure on the rise compared to 2023."
"In the first seven months of this year, the increase has continued", Piantedosi said, citing a 12 percent rise "on the already good data last year.
"We are working on this front and we will continue to do it because we believe that it is necessary to state once and for all the principle that travelling Italy [is possible] only through regular channels. These are essentially the 'numbers' of a safer, more competitive, democratic Italy. Because the freedom of citizens stems from everybody's security," he added.