BRUSSELS - The Italian 'Apriamo i Porti' (Open the Ports) campaign, against the Italian government's recent policy of closing harbours to ships carrying migrants, has arrived in Brussels.



A group of Italians living in the Belgian capital have held a sit-in in front of the Italian embassy to call on the Giuseppe Conte government to bring in an "open" migration policy. A delegation was received in the embassy to deliver a letter to Ambassador, Elena Basile, to be conveyed to the Italian government. A statement noted that the letter asks for "an immediate end to the policy of closing ports and criminalizing the NGOs" as well as "an end to the alarming number of deaths, abuse and human beings subjected to torture, especially by ending the Italy-Libya Accord".



The accord was signed early last year by the Renzi government and aims to stem migration from Libya to Italy.



The letter also called for the European Council to reject "the continuing of a policy of reception and de facto detention of migrants and asylum seekers in third countries such as Libya and Tunisia." Another request was to "ward off the spread of misinformation and data forgery for demagogical and propaganda ends". The statement noted that the initiative is supported by several organizations, including Libera Bruxelles, Casi-Uo, Anpi Bruxelles, Crer and Medex.



During the sit-in, Ambassador Basile expressed the hope that "the movements trying to highlight reception principles and just immigration policies will address the European Union and certainly not Italy, a country that for years has honored its obligations and played a fundamental role, dealing in solitude and at a national level with European challenges, such as the emergency of migration flows. Any movement that is able to get Europe to fulfill its duties and acknowledge the urgency of a 'shared asylum policy' is welcome," Basile said.