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Italy Orders Seizure of Migrant Rescue Ship Over 'HIV-Contaminated' Clothes

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The Aquarius is operated by MSF and SOS Méditerranée Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images

Prosecutors allege garments on Aquarius should have been labelled as ‘toxic waste’

theguardian.com - by Lorenzo Tondo - November 20, 2018

Italian authorities have ordered the seizure of the migrant rescue ship Aquarius after claiming that discarded clothes worn by the migrants on their voyage from Libya to Italy could have been contaminated by HIV, meningitis and tuberculosis . . .

 . . . “Clothing categorically is not, and has never been, an HIV transmission risk,” said Deborah Gold, chief executive of the National AIDS Trust.

“This would have stood out as ridiculous even amongst the misinformation of the 1980s, never mind in 2018. Migrants and people seeking asylum have historically been attacked using myths about HIV and infectious conditions, and we condemn this both for its stigmatising of people living with HIV and of migrants fleeing hardship.”

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msf.org - November 20, 2018

The Italian judicial authorities’ request to seize the Aquarius is a disproportionate and unfounded measure, purely aimed at criminalising lifesaving medical-humanitarian action at sea.

Since 2015, MSF has rescued and assisted over 80,000 people in coordination with maritime authorities and in full compliance with national and international laws.

We will submit an appeal to the Italian review courts.

CLICK HERE - READ COMPLETE ARTICLE - Sinister attacks by Italian authorities on lifesaving search and rescue in the Mediterranean

 

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