Foreign aid £75m to buy migrants a flight home
Millions of pounds from Britain’s aid budget will be used to send home migrants trying to get to Europe, Theresa May will announce today.
At a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, the Prime Minister will unveil the £75million plan to deter people from crossing the Mediterranean from Africa.
Record numbers have been attempting the perilous journey to italy with fears an even greater influx is looming as weather conditions improve.
Britain will seek to reduce the flow by offering people free flights back to their home country.
The three-year programme will offer humanitarian support, including food and water, to would-be migrants on the perilous transit routes from the Horn of Africa and western Africa through countries including niger, Egypt and libya.
People who find themselves stranded and destitute along the routes will be offered assistance to return home rather than continuing towards Europe.
While any assisted returns will be voluntary, it is thought that many individuals could take advantage of the scheme as a way of escaping the gruelling conditions of the transit routes, which expose them to the risk of death, violence, forced labour and exploitation at the hands of people-traffickers before they even reach Mediterranean ports.
A record 4,576 people are thought to have died or gone missing while attempting the risky central Mediterranean sea crossing during 2016.
some 181,000 people arrived in italy via this route last year, with a greater number expected in 2017.
officials in Rome earlier this week said 71,000 migrants have been rescued at sea so far this year, 26 per cent more than the same period last year. Almost 2,000 people have died on the crossing this year, with at least 130 fatalities last weekend alone.
international Development secretary Priti Patel said: ‘The UK has been at the forefront of responding to the migration crisis and our work to date has helped reduce total migrant numbers to Europe since 2015.
‘But worryingly, more and more people are now using the incredibly dangerous central Mediterranean route. This new UK support will provide desperately needed aid and protection to tens of thousands of the world’s most vulnerable.
‘But critically it will also make clear the massive risks involved at every stage of this route and provide alternatives so those who change their minds can return home. As well as saving lives, this will provide vulnerable people
‘Using our aid in a smart way’
with meaningful alternatives to the treacherous crossings into Europe.
‘Building on our existing work to deal with the root causes of migration, this approach is about using our aid in a smart way, as part of a coordinated approach across Government.’
in a letter to EU leaders, European Council president Donald Tusk yesterday urged them to do more to tackle the problem of illegal migration. He wrote: ‘We need to review the situation on the central Mediterranean route.
‘The number of illegal arrivals of primarily economic migrants to italy has increased by 26 per cent compared to last year, around 1,900 people have lost their lives at sea, and the smuggling business is taking on a new dimension.
‘some operational results of our decisions have been achieved, namely the training of libyan navy Coastguards, the arrests of more than 100 smugglers and the neutralisation of more than 400 of their vessels.
‘But this is clearly too little, and i don’t see why we cannot bear greater financial responsibility for the functioning of the libyan navy Coastguards,’ he added.
‘They are our allies in the fight against smugglers. i am drawing your attention to this, because at the working level some of your representatives are not taking the necessary decisions in this regard.’