BORDERS Italy: new “safe port” restrictions for search and rescue NGOs The Italian government adopted a decree that requires captains of rescue ships to request a port to Italian authorities immediately after a rescue, and head to it rather than continuing at sea and assisting with multiple distress calls. This measure drastically reduces the number of operations that search and rescue NGOs would be able to carry out. If they do not comply, ship captains risk a fine of 50,000 euros, and having their vessels impounded. EU Commission launches strategy to step up returns The European Commission released a policy document outlining four priorities for an upcoming “operational strategy” to increase returns of irregular migrants. The priorities are: responding to immediate needs and obstacles to returns; accelerating the process and closing loopholes; promoting return counselling and reintegration; and digitalising return management and improving data analysis. The EU Return Coordinator and the High-Level Network for Returns will finalise the operational strategy, ensure its implementation and regularly report on it. EU Commission launches new EU-Africa partnerships on Mediterranean migration Last December, the European Commission launched two “Team Europe Initiatives”, EU-North Africa partnerships to cooperate on migration management in the Western and Central Mediterranean regions. Such cooperation rests on five pillars: “prevention of irregular migration”, “legal migration”, protection, returns, and development cooperation. These pillars mirror the five priority areas of the Cadiz Action Plan for 2023-2027, a migration cooperation programme between EU and African countries that was adopted at the 6th Ministerial Conference of the Euro-African Dialogue on Migration and Development in December. Spain: prosecutor stops investigation on Melilla’s massacre In December 2022, Spain’s prosecution services closed the investigation on the June 2022 Melilla massacre, where at least 23 people died trying to cross from Morocco into the Spanish territory of Melilla, claiming that there was no evidence of misconduct by the Spanish Guardia Civil. The Spanish Minister of Interior also claimed that the Guardia Civil response was proportionate and that no one had died in Spanish territory, which was later contradicted in reports by Lighthouse Reports. More than 150 human rights groups since released a statement demanding an independent investigation and mechanisms to ensure justice and redress.