The response at Thursday’s emergency EU Council meeting to the migrant drownings in the Mediterranean has been described rightly as “woefully inadequate” by Amnesty International. That echoes the sentiments of other NGOs and of the heads of the UN refugee agency, human rights commission and of the International Organisation for Migration. “The EU response needs to go beyond the present minimalist approach which focuses primarily on stemming the arrival of migrants and refugees on its shores,” the agencies’ heads correctly argue. “Enforcement alone will not solve the issue of irregular migration, but could increase the risks and abuse faced by migrants and refugees.”
While EU leaders agreed to beef up the EU Triton mission – now only two aircraft, two helicopters, six coastal patrol boats and about 65 officers – by trebling its budget, they kicked down the road the central issue of what to do with the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have arrived on Europe's shores and will continue to do so. And they have also dodged the issue of the remit of Triton, specifically the crucial need to expand its area of operation beyond coastal Italy to cover areas in the central Mediterranean and off the Libyan coast.
The EU’s immigration policy is shortly to be the subject of a commission paper but it remains the national prerogative of each member state – and few, apart from the honorable exceptions of the Germans and Swedes, are showing any willingness to take significant numbers of the refugees. A tentative global commitment to 5,000 that is being discussed barely touches the surface of the problem.
The leaders's further commitments to assisting African countries to manage the problem and reduce demand was vague at best, while a decision to explore the possibility of attacking smugglers' boats before they leave Libya is fraught with legal and political difficulties, certainly requiring UN approval which may not be forthcoming.
The Government has made an important and welcome commitment of a Naval Service vessel to assist the Triton operation, the service’s first use on an international humanitarian mission. Provisions in the Defence (Amendment) Act 2006, however, circumscribe the mandate of the mission in confining it strictly to humanitarian purposes and strictly limiting it in any enforcement role that Triton may wish to take on. The nature of its mandate will be discussed by ministers and officials today.
And the Government needs to go much further than its current vague commitments to resettling refugees. It is understandably wary of announcing a substantial resettlement programme given the political sensitivity of immigration, but ministers should not underestimate the wave of popular anger and anguish at the drownings and the widespread sense that there is a moral imperative to assist in this humanitarian tragedy. Nor should they underestimate the generosity of the Irish people when the case is made to act.