Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to the Maltese authorities on preventing additional occurrences of hijacking such as the recent incident of a Turkish-registered oil tanker which was detained having been bound for Europe instead of its intended destination of Libya.

The UK commends Malta for the swift action of its armed forces to the recent hijacking of ElHiblu 1 and for allowing the 108 rescued migrants to disembark. This latest incident highlights the desperation of these migrants and the urgent need to establish a more predictable voluntary relocation mechanism, as being discussed within the EU. An international response is required to effectively tackle irregular migration and to prevent any future occurrence of hijacking.