EU is 'failing' to stop people smugglers in Mediterranean

An EU naval mission to fight people smuggling in the Mediterranean is having no meaningful impact, a parliamentary report has found.

Operation Sophia, named after a baby born on a mission ship off the Libyan coast, began in September 2015 with the aim of fighting migrant smugglers, as well as rescuing refugees in distress at sea.

However, it has had an “insignificant” impact on the smuggling industry and is responsible for only low-level arrests, the House of Lords EU Committee said.

It pointed to three major causes: a lack of a stable Libyan government, smugglers adapting their “business model” to avoid detection and failure on the part of the operation to properly understand the smuggling networks – particularly in Libya.

Despite this, it credits the mission with saving 9,000 lives at sea in its search and rescue efforts.

Our report stresses that the operation is succeeding in carrying out its separate search and rescue obligations, which is to be commended.

This is a humanitarian obligation that should be maintained.

However, a naval mission cannot disrupt the business model of people smuggling, and in this sense it is failing.

The smuggling networks operate from Libya, and they extend through Africa.

Without support from a stable Libyan government, the operation is unable to gather the intelligence it needs or tackle the smugglers onshore.

– COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN LORD TUGENDHAT

The report concluded:

A mission acting only on the high seas is not able to effectively disrupt the smuggling networks
The EU must also focus on tackling root causes, including helping source countries overcome security and development challenges

itv.com