Off the wire
• Roundup: U.S. stocks end mixed amid earnings reports  • Macedonia, Bulgaria vow to enhance military-technical cooperation  • Bayern Munich crush Porto 6-1 in UEFA Champions League  • Olympiakos triumph over Barcelona in Euro league playoffs  • Roundup: UN calls for "swift, courageous" action to stem tide of illegal migration  • Foreign exchange rate of Euro to other currencies  • "Chinese Bridge" language contest held in Latvia  • South Sudan army kills 28 rebels in Upper Nile clashes  • Monaco captain Toulalan back to squad for Juventus game  • U.S. urges Japan to handle wartime history in constructive way  
You are here: 　 Home

UN Security Council expresses concern over migrant smuggling in Mediterranean

Xinhua, April 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN Security Council on Tuesday expressed concern over the recent proliferation of the smuggling of migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, while deploring the recent migrant shipwreck that led to deaths of hundreds of migrants.

The council said in a statement that transnational organized crimes such as the smuggling of migrants have posed threat to regional stability and underlined the need to bring the perpetrators of the acts to justice.

Reports said some 800 migrants were feared to have died at sea when a packed boat capsized in international waters south of Italy 's Sicily Sunday.

The council urged all member states to cooperate with international and regional organizations, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in addressing illicit migration flows and dismantling smuggling networks in the region.

According to IOM, the latest death toll of migrants in the Mediterranean for this year is set at 1,727, over 30 times than the number of the same period last year.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday also urged the European Union to accelerate its support for addressing migrant issue in the Mediterranean, saying the region is fast becoming "a sea of misery" for thousands of migrants. Endite