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Key findings of the Report:
+ Assessment of the current phases of the mission
- Over 50 smugglers have been arrested by Operation Sophia, but these arrests have been of low-level targets, and not the key figures within the smuggling networks.
- 80 smuggling vessels have been destroyed to date. However this has resulted in the smugglers simply changing tactics and shifting from wooden boats to dinghies, which are more unsafe.
- As Operation Sophia is currently unable to operate in Libyan waters or onshore, significant gaps remain in Operation Sophia's understanding of the smugglers networks, in particular how they operate on Libyan territory.
- A mission acting only on the high seas is not able to disrupt effectively the smuggling networks. There is therefore little prospect of Operation Sophia overturning the business model of people smuggling.
+ Future phases
- The weakness of the Libyan state has been a major cause of the rise in smugglers using this route through the Mediterranean.
- It is vital for an internationally recognised and accepted Libyan government to be in place in order for Operation Sophia to succeed in disrupting the business model of the smugglers in its planned further phases, however, it is not certain that the new Libyan Government will be in a position to support Operation Sophia in the short term.
- Operation Sophia therefore does not, and the report argues, cannot, deliver its mandate.
+ Search and rescue
- By March 2016, 9,000 people had been rescued by Operation Sophia.
- The report commends Operation Sophia's work in search and rescue, but notes that this is not its core mandate.
+ Bigger picture
- There is an urgent need to address the root causes of irregular migration to Europe.
- The report calls on the EU to create a wider strategy, which would 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 peopleThe EU External Affairs Sub-Committee of the United Kingdom House of Lords EU Select Committee published a report into Operation Sophia on the 13 May 2016. It said that the EU naval mission to tackle people smuggling in the central Mediterranean was not working.
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