EU extends naval operation against human smuggling by one year

The European Union (EU) here on Monday announced to extend until July 27, 2017 the mandate of the EUNAFOR MED Operation Sophia, the EU naval operation to disrupt the business model of human smugglers and traffickers in the southern central Mediterranean.

According to a press release issued by the Council of the EU, the EU reinforced the operation's mandate by adding two supporting tasks: training of the Libyan coastguards and navy and contributing to the implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya.

It said that legitimate Libyan authorities requested support in capacity building and training of their coastguards and navy. The mission's objective is to enhance their capability to disrupt smuggling and trafficking in Libya and perform search and rescue activities to save lives so that security in the Libyan territorial waters improves.

With regard to countering illegal arms trafficking, the operation will contribute to information sharing and support implementation of the UN arms embargo on the high seas off the coast of Libya. This will increase maritime situation awareness and limit arms flows to Daesh (the Islamic State) and other terrorist groups, the EU statement said.

EUNAVFOR MED Operation Sophia was launched on June 22, 2015. The operation entered its active phase in October 2015, which enables the identification, capture and disposal of vessels used or suspected of being used by migrants' smugglers or traffickers.

Since then, the operation has contributed to the arrest and transfer to the Italian authorities of 71 suspected smugglers and traffickers and neutralized 139 vessels. In addition, the operation has helped save close to 16,000 lives. Endit