Rescued migrants remain stranded on container ship off Italian coast

Italy's human rights watchdog is seeking information about more than 100 rescued migrants aboard a commercial container ship that has been stuck off Sicily for several days.

The Danish-flagged Alexander Maersk cargo ship participated in a Mediterranean Sea rescue on Thursday last week (Friday NZT) with a boat operated by German aid group Mission Lifeline. The aid group's ship is stranded off Malta with 234 migrant passengers.

Neither Italy nor Malta has given the crews of the two ships permission to disembark the passengers.

Italy's independent, government-authorized overseer for human rights sent a letter to the Italian coast guard inquiring about the Maersk migrants.

Italian news agency ANSA reported Monday (overnight NZT) that the watchdog office says the migrants are in Italian territorial waters "and find themselves de facto deprived of their personal freedom" in possible violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Meanwhile, the Italian government stepped up its efforts to discourage migration Sunday (yesterday NZT) by telling a Spanish aid group it didn't need help rescuing 1,000 migrants from six dinghies because it had passed responsibility for the Mediterranean Sea mission to Libya's coast guard.

The hard-line interior minister in Italy's new populist government, Matteo Salvini, said it was appropriate for the Libyans to take charge of the rescue "without the NGO vessels interrupting and disturbing them."

Since taking office at the beginning of the month, Salvini has launched a crackdown on private European-flagged rescue ships.

He ignited a continent-wide debate by refusing them ports to disembark their migrant passengers, accusing aid groups of effectively working as taxis for Libya-based people smugglers.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte brought a proposal for revamping how the European Union manages migration to an emergency leaders' meeting Sunday in Brussels.