EP calls for tougher measures against people smugglers

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The European Parliament called Wednesday on the EU to do everything possible to prevent further loss of life at sea, by expanding the mandate of the so-called "Triton" operation of the EU in the Mediterranean to include search and rescue operations.

The EP in a resolution approved by 449 votes to 130 also calls for a binding quota for distributing asylum seekers among all EU countries, bigger contributions to resettlement programmes, better cooperation with third countries and tougher measures against people smugglers.

The EP calls for "a robust and permanent humanitarian European rescue operation, which, like Mare Nostrum, would operate on the high seas and to which all member states would contribute financially and with equipment and assets." The resolution calls for closer coordination of EU and member state policies in tackling the root causes of migration and more cooperation with partner countries in the Middle East and Africa. It also calls for the strongest possible criminal sanctions against human trafficking and smuggling and urges member states and EU agencies to work more closely to detect and trace these criminal networks' funding and identify their modus operandi, so as to prevent them from making money by putting migrants' lives at risk. (end) nk.mb