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IOM welcomes EU proposals on Mediterranean migration

Xinhua, May 14, 2015 Adjust font size:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) Thursday welcomed a number of key recommendations by the European Union on migrants issue in the Mediterranean, including saving lives and sharing responsibility for asylum seekers across all member states.

The European Commission's "European Agenda on Migration" proposed a tripling of the budget specifically for life-saving missions throughout the Mediterranean, where at least 1,826 migrants have perished so far this year.

It also proposed a more equitable sharing of resettlement responsibilities throughout the EU.

"These initiatives reflect serious and constructive approaches to a challenge which IOM expects to continue," IOM Director General William Lacy Swing said in a statement.

IOM particularly welcomed the Commission's renewed focus on life saving. The proposals are "initial steps in addressing the humanitarian plight of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees who put their lives in the hands of unscrupulous smugglers in unseaworthy vessels, in order to cross the Mediterranean," said Swing.

The proposed tripling of Triton's budget will expand the current area of operations beyond the existing 30-mile limit to the most perilous migrant-smuggling routes and will help to save lives of migrants on the high seas.

IOM supported the renewed focus on disrupting criminal smuggling networks, but has serious concerns about proposals to "systematically identify, capture and destroy vessels used by smugglers" through EU Common Security and Defense operations.

The UN agency also welcomed the plans to engage with migrants long before they reach the Mediterranean and to support countries bearing the brunt of those displaced by conflict and human rights abuses. Endit