£15m migrant farce
The EU spends fortune to stop Med crisis... but makes it worse
A EUROPEAN Union naval mission aimed at stopping mass migration into Europe has failed to stop the flow and has even led to an increase in deaths, a damning report will say today.
The £15.2 million operation – which includes the UK – to tackle peoplesmuggling operations had not ‘ in any meaningful way’ deterred migrants or disrupted the criminal networks.
Instead, Operation Sophia’s destruction of vessels has led to smugglers sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels and an increase in deaths, a cross-party group of peers found.
Although 452 smuggling boats had been destroyed, this had just caused gangs to change tactics – ditching wooden boats for inflatable ones, the House of Lords EU exter
nal affairs sub-committee found. This has made the crossing across the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy more dangerous, in turn leading to an increase in the number of deaths, they said. In 2015, there were 2,876 deaths, which soared to 4,581 in 2016 and 2,150 as of July 2 this year. The report commended the rescue of 33,000 migrants – including at least 15,000 by the Royal Navy – but said a naval mission was the ‘wrong tool’ for tackling the issue. Lord Stirrup, one of the peers in the committee, told the Mail: ‘The objective of Operation Sophia is to break the business model of the smugglers. It has patently failed to do that.’ The former head of the Armed Forces added: ‘The search and rescue mission must continue but we are using expensive and scarce naval assets – you don’t need that sort of sophistication.’ The initiative was launched in 2015 after hundreds of migrants drowned trying to reach Europe.
It aimed to disrupt the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the southern central Mediterranean.
But the report said: ‘Operation Sophia has not in any meaningful way deterred the flow of migrants, disrupted the smugglers’ networks, or impeded the business of people smuggling on the central Mediterranean route.
‘An unintended consequence of Operation Sophia’s destruction of vessels has been that the smugglers have adapted, sending migrants to sea in unseaworthy vessels, leading to an increase in deaths.’
The peers added: ‘There is little justification for the deployment of high-end naval and air assets for the tasks being undertaken by Operation Sophia.’
Lord Stirrup said the political situation in Libya was key when it came to dealing with the issue.