EU sending warships to stop people smugglers
The European Union has announced that it will be able to go after suspected migrant trafficking and smuggling vessels in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea as of next week.
Operation Sophia will allow naval personnel of EU nations ‘‘to board, search, seize and divert vessels suspected of being used for human smuggling or trafficking on the high seas, in line with international law’’ as of October 7.
In reaction to the tens of thousands of people crossing the Mediterranean and the thousands of lives lost, the EU set up an operation that initially centered on saving those drifting on the high seas and later also included directly targeting smuggling and trafficking operations.
The operation was launched in June, and since it reached operational capability on July 27, it has saved 2186 people from drowning.
EU member states have now committed enough ships, helicopters and other military equipment to start the active phase of the counter-smuggling operation.
‘‘Today’s decision takes the EU naval operation from its intelligence-gathering phase to its operational and active phase against human smugglers on the high seas,’’ EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said.
EU officials agreed to rename the operation ‘‘Sophia’’ after a baby born on a rescue ship off the Libyan coast.
As part of the rescue operation, four ships are deployed at the moment and 1318 people from 22 of the EU’s member states are involved. It wasn’t immediately clear by how many ships and personnel the enlarged mission would be expanded.
The crisis was initially centered on the central Mediterranean but has spread to the east through the Balkans.