EU Action Plan Against Migrant Smuggling (EUC Report)

Lord Rosser Excerpts

Wednesday 15th June 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Rosser (Lab)]

My Lords, I add my thanks to those already expressed to the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, and the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, and their committees for their respective reports on subjects of more than usual interest at the present time.

Operation Sophia has been running since the middle of last year. Its purpose is to disrupt people smuggling in the southern central Mediterranean through gathering information and intelligence and by destroying boats used by people smugglers. The committee’s report indicates that the operation has not been an outstanding success to date, with no arrests of key figures in the smuggling networks, no effective disruption of the networks since the operation acts only on the high seas, and an inability so far to even operate in Libyan waters, let alone onshore, with the weakness of the Libyan state being a key cause of the rise in smugglers using that route through the Mediterranean. The report concludes that Operation Sophia does not and cannot deliver its mandate. It goes on to state that there is an urgent need to address the root causes of irregular migration to Europe and calls on the European Union to build resilience in the countries of origin, target the profits of the smugglers, provide support in-country and inform and engage the public on the phenomenon of the mass movement of people.

If there is to be a coherent and sustainable solution to the irregular migrant crisis, there must be a crackdown on those who seek to take advantage of people in their time of need, and that means dismantling and putting out of action, by bringing to justice, the ruthless criminal networks that organise the precarious and dangerous journeys of large numbers of migrants who are desperate to reach Europe.

The second EU committee report we are discussing, which is on the EU action plan against migrant smuggling, considers the broader strategic challenges of migration policy and recognises that migration to Europe is part of a much larger phenomenon of the mass movement of people globally from the developing to the developed world, with the countries of western Europe, whether in the EU or not, acting as a magnet to those in the Middle East and Africa.

The purpose of the committee’s report was to look at the 2015 EU action plan against migrant smuggling ahead of the European Commission’s own review of the legislation on migrant smuggling which is due to be published this year along with proposed reforms. The action plan, which is one aspect of the European Commission’s 2015 European Agenda on Migration, sets out four priorities: enhanced police and judicial response; improved gathering and sharing of information; enhanced prevention of smuggling and assistance to vulnerable migrants and stronger co-operation with third-world countries.

The aims of the committee’s inquiry were to assess how the action plan against migrant smuggling contributes to the stated objectives of the EU’s agenda on migration; to establish whether or not its four objectives and the actions set out are the right ones to achieve the EU’s stated goal of rendering migrant smuggling a “high risk, low return” undertaking; to identify whether the action plan strikes the right balance between security considerations and the protection of migrants’ human rights; and to identify gaps and deficiencies in the current EU response to migrant smuggling in order to make recommendations for planned legislative reform.

The committee’s report reached a number of conclusions and made a number of recommendations; they appear overall to have been rather more enthusiastically received by the European Commission than they have by the Government, judging by the tenor and content of the respective responses. Its recommendations for creating safe and legal routes for refugees to enter the EU, and its regret that the Government have declined to participate in the EU measures for the relocation of migrants—allied to their urging that the Commission and all member states should make greater efforts to reach consensus on EU proposals on relocation and resettlement—did not go down well with the Home Office. The Home Office Minister for Immigration reiterated the government line on providing support to those countries facing particular pressures, with the focus on helping the most vulnerable who remain in the region which migrants arriving in Europe have left. The best way of reducing irregular migration flows, and with it migration smuggling, is of course to address the issues that have led to people fleeing or otherwise simply deciding to leave their own country or region. Conflicts in whatever part of the world lead to spikes in mass migration as people living in fear of atrocities and persecution flee for their lives in the hope of finding a safe, secure and peaceful environment elsewhere for themselves and their families.

Conflicts have adverse economic consequences as well. The loss of a home, employment and the prospect of any reasonable life ahead leads to migration flows. Climate change can have a similar impact. My noble friend Lord Anderson of Swansea drew attention to the impact of the population explosion, particularly in Africa. But achieving lasting peace in areas of conflict and addressing the tyranny of oppressive dictatorships and corruption, as well as appalling levels of poverty, as a means of eliminating the root causes of mass migration is neither a smooth nor a quick process. It involves nations, particularly those in the developed world, working together to deliver agreed common objectives and being prepared to put in the resources, both financial and human, to achieve those objectives. It involves a recognition that international development activity and the associated necessary resource provision in its various forms has very considerable benefits for the nations providing those resources as well as for the nations receiving them.

However, we are a long way from being in that position, and in the meantime the issue and impact of mass migration, and with it migration smuggling, will continue to have to be faced up to by many countries around the world, including in Europe and including ourselves acting both jointly and collectively, and individually. In this country we had our own migration impacts fund to provide a resource to expand essential public services in areas where such services were coming under pressure as a result of an increase in population arising from migration. It was abolished by the incoming Government in 2010, which was not exactly a far-sighted or enlightened move.

The response to the committee’s report from the European Commission refers to the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, which was set up to promote the efficient management of migration flows and the implementation, strengthening and development of a common EU approach to asylum and immigration, as well as to regulate specifically when emergency assistance could be activated. The EU Commission allocated emergency assistance funding to France last August to set up a site offering humanitarian assistance to around 1,500 irregular migrants and to support the transport of asylum seekers from Calais to other locations in France. Can the noble and learned Lord say what, if anything, has been our involvement with this fund, including as a beneficiary or potential beneficiary? The Commission’s response also refers to the setting up this year by Europol of a fully operational European migrant smuggling centre as part of the creation of a hub for sharing information on migrant smuggling in the EU. What is our involvement with and input into this newly-established centre, including the sharing of information? Perhaps the Minister could tell us when he responds.

The European Commission has also said that the recent EU-Turkey statement and co-operation with Turkey have been fundamental in tackling the exploitation of vulnerable people seeking to cross the Aegean Sea. It has, it says, ensured greater humanitarian assistance in Turkey in parallel with opening up new legal channels to the EU, and that credible action inside the EU to discourage smuggling and irregular entry while showing that legal pathways to Europe exist is critically important. Can the Minister say whether the Government agree with that view?

The European Commission has recently set out plans for a new results-orientated partnership framework to mobilise and focus EU action and resources in its external work on managing migration. The EU’s intention is to seek tailor-made partnerships with key third countries of origin and transit to achieve results with the priorities being saving lives at sea, increasing returns, enabling migrants and refugees to stay closer to home and, in the long term, helping third countries’ development in order to address the root causes of irregular migration. Some €8 billion will apparently be provided over the next five years.

The Commission says that partnerships with third countries will take the form of tailored compacts that will reflect whether they are a country of origin or transit, or one hosting many displaced persons, and that in the short term the EU will deliver compacts with Jordan and Lebanon, and take steps to agree further cuts with Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Mali and Ethiopia. The EU also intends to increase its engagement with Tunisia and Libya.

The Commission goes on to say that member states’ contributions in these partnerships—diplomatic, technical and financial—will be of fundamental importance in delivering results. Can the noble and learned Lord say what our contribution will be to these partnerships? In their response to the committee’s report the Government say that they are participating fully in the EU’s discussions regarding all possible measures for dealing with the root causes of migrant smuggling at ministerial and working levels through playing a leading role in the implementation of the actions agreed by the EU and African partners at the Valletta summit last November. Can the Minister say what “playing a leading role” means in terms of specific actions that we have taken or have committed to take?

Also in response to the committee’s report, the Government say that they are working to assist in building greater judicial and law enforcement capacity from source and transit countries for the migration crisis as part of the Organised Crime Taskforce by exploiting every opportunity at source, in transit countries and Europe, to destroy the operating model of organised crime groups involved in organised immigration crime. Can the noble and learned Lord say how long this task force has existed, and what specific improvements have been achieved as a result of its endeavours?

I thank once again the noble Baroness, Lady Prashar, and the noble Lord, Lord Tugendhat, and their colleagues for their respective reports, with their conclusions and recommendations on these increasingly important, high-impact and challenging issues that we have been able to discuss and consider today, and to which we now await the Government’s response.