Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many migrants from the Middle East or North Africa are thought to have died in the past 12 months; how many are being held within the European Union; what progress is being made in deterring human traffickers from exploiting and endangering such migrants; and what are their short- and long-term policies regarding such migrants.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimates that 3,500 people died attempting to cross the Mediterranean in 2014. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) estimates that by the end of April, over 1,700 migrants had died crossing the Mediterranean this year. The numbers of illegal migrants detected entering the EU sea border in 2014 was 220,000, of which about 170,000 crossed the Central Mediterranean.

At the Extraordinary European Council in April, EU Member States agreed to establish a military Common Security and Defence Policy operation to disrupt trafficking and smuggling networks. We are working with EU partners to address long-term flows through initiatives in source and transit countries to address the underlying causes. We are increasing our work in and with transit countries to ensure migrants are protected, smuggling networks are closed down, that border management is improved, and to ensure that there is increased awareness of the risks of attempting a perilous journey to reach Europe.