Humanitarian groups denounce Italian pressure on Panama

TWO world-renowned humanitarian organizations have denounced “pressure” from the Italian Government on Panama to withdraw its license for a  refugee rescue vessel to operate under the Panama flag.

The NGOs SOS Méditerranée and  Doctors Without Borders  …Médicos sin Fronteras (MSF) jointly charter the German-owned vessel  Aquarius told Associated Press (AP)  on Sunday, September 23: “This revocation is the result of economic pressure and flagrant policy exercised by the Italian government and condemns hundreds of  fleeing men, women, and children to  sink into the marine cemetery  that the Mediterranean has become

, “MSF said: “It is a violent blow to the vital humanitarian mission of the Aquarius, the only   non-government search and rescue ship still present in the central Mediterranean “