ROME, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Refugee Agency, UNHCR, on Saturday urged Italy to allow immediate disembarkation of migrants stranded on an Italian coast guard ship and appealed to EU member states to offer relocation places to them.
The ship, known as "Diciotti," has been docked in Italy's Sicilian port of Catania since Monday. More than 100 of its passengers, most reportedly from refugee-producing countries, are still barred from disembarkation as Italy waits for a solution to their relocation to be reached with other EU states. Those allowed ashore are minors and people in need of urgent medical treatment.
"Throughout history, Europe has recognized a fundamental moral and legal obligation to come to the aid of people fleeing war, violence and persecution," UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said in an official statement.
"The time has come to end the back-and-forth that has seen countries competing in a race to the bottom on who can take the least responsibility for people rescued at sea," Grandi said.
The stranded Diciotti migrants have sparked a fresh round of heated discussions over migration in EU.
Earlier, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he "does not want more illegal immigrants to land in Italy," while Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Friday threatened to withhold the country's EU payments if the bloc does not help take in the migrants.
"They want the 20 billion euros paid by Italian citizens? Then let them demonstrate that they deserve it and that they are taking charge of a problem that we can no longer face alone. The borders of Italy are the borders of Europe," Di Maio wrote in a Facebook post.
However, a high-level meeting of a dozen EU member states on Friday failed to produce an immediate solution to the Diciotti migrants.
"It is dangerous and immoral to put the lives of refugees and asylum-seekers at risk while states engage in a political tug-of-war on long-term solutions," Grandi said.
More than 1,600 people have lost their lives attempting to reach European shores in 2018, though the number of people attempting to cross has been significantly reduced compared with previous years, according to the UNHCR statement.
