Maritime operations against smugglers in the Mediterranean

The migrant crisis in the Mediterranean reached high-level attention as European heads of state and government recently gathered in Brussels to discuss how the EU should respond to the pressing situation along its southern border. Among discussions of a more just distribution of asylum-seekers and resettlement, EU leaders discussed a possible military intervention against Libyan migrant smugglers and their boats in the Mediterranean.

Søren Carlsen from the Danish national radio program “P1 Orientering” interviewed CEO and founder of Risk Intelligence, Hans Tino Hansen, about limitations and possibilities for an EU-initiated military intervention against migrant smugglers in the Mediterranean. On the potential of a military operation, Hans Tino Hansen said; “Military intervention is a very hard task. The persons you target through military operations such as those proposed by the EU, are those in lowest levels of the smuggling network. The ones you really should target are those that are in the core of the network. Also, according to international law, you can’t just bomb the boats. You need to identify the ship first, and clarify whether it is involved in illegal activities. Only then you can then proceed to board and seize the boat and arrest the smugglers if you have evidence of their criminal behavior. The smugglers are not terrorists, but criminals. They need to be proven guilty and judged accordingly.”

Rather than focusing on a pure military intervention, Hans Tino Hansen suggests that emphasis should be on stopping the organisers of the smuggling networks. This could be achieved by cooperating internationally on  stopping financial flows to the backers of the networks, increasing safety, security and naval operations in the Mediterranean, and providing support to improve the political and economic development in Libya – similar efforts that all proved successful in combatting Somali piracy networks. P1 Orientering is a Danish national radio news magazine that analyses developments in Danish, European and international politics on a daily basis. Click here for the full radio interview in Danish.