Migrants will not be returned against their will, EU says
Refugees and migrants intercepted at sea will not “be sent back against their will,” the European Union’s top diplomat assured the UN Security Council on Monday, citing a proposed EU maritime operation against the growing wave of migrant smuggling from North Africa.
Federica Mogherini spoke as the 28-member EU prepares to start making decisions next week on an operation to identify, capture and destroy boats before they are used by migrant smugglers.
Stressing the urgency of the crisis as migrants continue to set off from Africa toward Europe and many die, Mogherini told reporters the EU is prepared to take certain steps before the council adopts any resolution authorizing the operation — even as a draft was expected to circulate to all 15 council members within hours. She would not say what those steps are.
Concerns remained even among some council members that the migrants themselves will be harmed, sent back or not be allowed to seek better lives.
“No one is thinking of bombing,” Mogherini said briskly.
The UN’s special representative for international migration told the council that about half of the people who reach Europe qualify as refugees.
Peter Sutherland also praised a planned EU quota system where countries would share the refugee burden, though finding the required agreement of all EU members is already a challenge. Some countries have already objected.
The EU’s executive Commission was to propose the plan Wednesday as part of a strategy to help frontline countries Italy, Greece and Malta cope with thousands of migrants.
Mogherini said the “new agenda for migration” to be addressed Wednesday would also do more to increase search-and-rescue operations and allow for more legal pathways into Europe.