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EUROPEAN UNION foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg launched a naval operation yesterday aimed at stopping human-traffickers from bringing migrants across the Mediterranean to Europe.
More than 100,000 migrants have entered Europe so far this year, with 2,000 dead or missing during the perilous quest to reach the continent.
The naval operation will be confined to international waters and airspace pending a UN security council resolution endorsing it and official permission to enter Libyan territory.
“We will start implementing the first phase of the operation in the coming days. This covers information-gathering and patrolling on the high seas to support the detection and monitoring of smuggling networks,” said EU foreign policy head Federica Mogherini.
“The targets are not the migrants. The targets are those that are making money on their lives and too often on their deaths,” she said.
Ms Mogherini warned that the EU planned to “dismantle the business model” of the traffickers by destroying their boats.
