Brussels, 11/03/2016 (Agence Europe) - In the face of an unprecedented migration crisis, the Council of the EU adopted conclusions on Thursday 10 March on migrant smuggling.
The member states, the European Commission and the relevant EU agencies are called on to take steps to counter this activity. Among the measures set out, increasing and improving the collection, sharing and analysis of data about migrant smuggling, in order to develop more effective, coordinated evidence-based policies is seen as a key step in destroying the economics around migration. A further measure is improving cooperation between member states and Europol though the exchange of reliable, updated and comparable crime statistics on migrant smuggling.
According to the Council, “only” a comprehensive and cross-border approach by member states, working in concert with the appropriate EU institutions, agencies and bodies - which fully respects human rights and the dignity of the smuggled migrants the principle of non-refoulement, and the prohibition of collective expulsion - will be able to curb migrant smuggling. The thorny issue of collective expulsions will be one of the points to be clarified between now and the European summit on 17-18 March (see EUROPE 11509).
The Council calls on the Commission to support the member states in setting up a network of single contact points to foster operation cooperation on migrant smuggling.
Several factors explain the oppressing need to adopt this text. The number of migrants illegally entering the EU in 2015 rose to 1.8 million in 2015, up 546% on 2014. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimated that, in 2015, 3,770 people lost their lives crossing the Mediterranean. It is imperative that migrant trafficking be tackled as quickly as possible. It has become an increasingly violent form of crime, which may involve serious physical or psychological violence. (Original version in French by Didion Maëlle stag)