EU to begin “Operation Sophia” against human smugglers

Europe, Middle East, News October 7, 2015 , by IRIA No Comments

Starting Wednesday (October 7), European Union naval operatives will begin ‘Operation Sophia’ to seize boats suspected of being used to smuggle migrants across the Mediterranean.

Announcing the shift to the “active phase” of the mission, EU member states said in a statement last week that sailors on EU naval vessels will “be able 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.

The operation, which focuses on an area of the Mediterranean Sea north of Libya, currently includes an Italian aircraft carrier, a French frigate, two German ships, and one British and Spanish ship, Al Jazeera reported.

In June, the EU launched the first phase of the operation, called EUNavfor Med, which involves naval surveillance and monitoring trafficking patterns.

The second operation has been named “Sophia” after the name given to the baby born on the ship of the operation which rescued her mother on 22 August 2015 off the coast of Libya.

Over half a million migrants and refugees have crossed the Mediterranean Sea this year to enter Europe, escaping unrest and civil war in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and Northern Africa. This situation has triggered the region’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II.

The crisis has also provided opportunities to human traffickers and smugglers, who have exploited the situation to their benefit by cramming refugees in overcrowded boats bound for Europe that have, in many cases, capsized and killed thousands of people.

The sea route has proven especially dangerous, leading to at least 2,500 deaths.

A senior migration expert, Eugenio Ambrosi, has warned that the EU operation in the Mediterranean will fail unless the bloc also fights criminal gangs in Europe. Eugenio Ambrosi, of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said the “transnational criminal rings of traffickers are the same as those involved in weapons and drugs”.

“The boats are not the reason for the smuggling,” Mr Ambrosi told BBC, adding that if efforts are just focused on the boats, “the nucleus of the criminals remains untouched”.

However, EU member states said in the statement that “The operation is aimed at disrupting the business model of human smuggling and trafficking networks in the Mediterranean and to prevent the further loss of life at sea.”