Spokesman says laws to fine, impound charity vessels will cause death, suffering EU, UN experts suggest new proposals may contravene international law LONDON: Italy’s decision to impose stricter laws on charities that rescue or help migrants found in the Mediterranean has been denounced by Amnesty International, which said the policy will result in “more deaths at sea.” Italy has taken the brunt of migrants crossing the sea from North Africa — especially Libya — over the past few years, with many thousands arriving on the peninsula as well as the islands of Sicily and Lampedusa. The new rules will see increased fines for charities that flout Italian laws to bring migrants onto Italian soil, and could even see ships impounded by the authorities. The change in the law, approved by Italy’s Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday, will move to the Senate before full ratification. The proposals have been criticized by Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, and Mary Lawlor, UN special rapporteur on human rights defenders, both of whom suggest the new laws could contradict international law. Matteo de Bellis, a migration researcher with Amnesty, said in a statement: “These measures are clearly designed to hinder NGOs undertaking life-saving search and rescue missions in the central Mediterranean. “This is part of an effort to ensure that as many people as possible are instead intercepted by Libyan coast guards and returned to Libya where they face arbitrary detention and torture. “This new legislation — in combination with the ‘distant ports’ practice, requiring NGO ships to disembark rescued people in ports a long way from where rescues are typically carried out — risks resulting in more deaths at sea. “It will inevitably lead to increased suffering for shipwreck survivors, and in further criminalization of the legitimate work of human rights defenders.”