European Union begins military operations against migrant smugglers

The second phase of the naval operation authorizes boarding, search, seizure and diversion of ships found to be used for human trafficking.

The planning of the mission – EUNAVFOR MED – started in June with the first phase focusing on compiling and analysing information on the trafficker networks.

Operation Sophia encompasses Italian, French, German, British and Spanish warships, including Italy’s Cavour C 550 aircraft carrier and France’s Courbet F 712 stealth frigate.

The UN Security Council is expected to vote, possibly as early as Thursday, on a draft resolution authorizing European military action against migrant smugglers in the high seas off Libya’s coast, diplomats said.

It says more than 557,000 migrants and refugees have arrived in Europe across the sea this year, and that almost three thousand people have died while attempting the crossing. Traffickers hoping to spirit migrants out of the area by boat will still run into EUNAVFOR MED once they get into global waters. The operation, named Sophia after a baby born a migrant ship before being rescued, requires European ships to stay in worldwide waters, but officials hope that they eventually will receive permissions to enter a few foreign waters to intercept ships closer to shore.

It underscores that the resolution’s intention is to disrupt “organized criminal enterprises engaged in migrant smuggling and human trafficking and prevent loss of life” — not to prevent individuals from exercising their human rights or prevent them from seeking protection.

The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence last month confirmed that Royal Navy warship HMS Richmond is to take part in the operation, The Guardian reported.

The operation will be limited to global and European Union waters under the jurisdiction of Frontex. In May the council’s secretary general, Michael Diedring had said, “A military operation will only lead to more deaths, either directly or as collateral damage in this unwinnable “war” against smugglers, or indirectly as desperate refugees take even more unsafe journeys when boats are destroyed”.

He added that the move would only succeed in shifting migration patterns to different routes, such as via Turkey and Greece, which has already proved significantly more popular than the voyage from Libya to Italy throughout 2015.