Mission to halt people smuggling has failed, say peers

Lords EU committee rules that naval operation is the wrong tool for tackling a practice that starts onshore

A ROYAL NAVY and EU anti-people smuggling mission in the Mediterranean has been a “failure” that has not reduced deaths among migrants, a House of Lords committee has ruled.

In a report into the pan-eu Operation Sophia, the Lords’ European Union Committee found that the naval mission had failed to disrupt the business model of the people smuggling industry operating in Libya.

Baroness Verma, who led the EU external affairs sub-committee, said Brussels should not now extend the mandate for Operation Sophia when it comes up for renewal later this month, even though humanitarian search and rescue operations should continue. She said: “People smuggling begins onshore, so a naval mission is the wrong tool for tackling this dangerous, inhumane and unscrupulous business. Once the boats have set sail, it is too late. Operation Sophia has failed to meet the objective of its mandate to disrupt the business model of people smuggling. It should not be renewed.”

Operation Sophia, which began in April 2015 following several large-scale Libyan migrant shipwrecks, has been supported by the Royal Navy, with the 3,500-ton HMS Echo, a multi-purpose survey ship, currently deployed.

Despite the military muscle, more than 84,000 migrants have been picked up on the Mediterranean this year – a 20 per cent increase from the first half of 2016 – sparking a fresh refugee crisis in Europe as Italy bears the brunt of the new arrivals.

The report found that while Operation Sophia had led to the destruction of more than 450 boats and the arrest of 110 people smugglers, the numbers lost in the Mediterranean had not significantly decreased, with 2,150 deaths by the start of July. Evidence to the Committee from Edward Hobart, the migration envoy at the Foreign Office, suggested the smugglers had adapted after the naval ships began intercepting larger vessels.

Mr Hobart said that it was now “very rare” for boats capable of transporting more than 500 or 600 people to depart from Libya; instead much smaller inflatable boats were being picked up 12 miles off the coast, making journeys more dangerous.

Joseph Walker-cousins, of the Institute for Statecraft, a think tank, added: “Picking up migrants in the water incentivises traffickers not even to intend to try to get their cargo to the other side of the sea, because all they need to do is get them out 100 kilometres (60 miles) or so and they will be picked up.”

Senior diplomatic sources in Brussels said that they were confident the EU would renew the mandate for Operation Sophia, despite the advice of the Lords’ report. “Everyone is aware that this mission faces difficulties,” the source added, “but there is continued determination to make it work”.