Let's say it like it is: what we are up against is a huge, lucrative, multi-million euro business. Last month, at the opening of its new European Migrant Smuggling Centre in The Hague, Europol reported that in 2015 criminal gangs generated between €3 billion and €6 billion in people-smuggling rackets. The EU Agency's Director, Rob Wainwright, pointed out that almost 90 per cent of the more than one million migrants who entered the EU illegally last year used a "facilitation service" to get to Europe, in most cases provided by criminal groups.
As is the case with any business, the migrant smuggling circles seek to satisfy an existing demand by supplying the required product or service for a good profit. Over the past year, ruthless organised criminal networks have exploited the plight of millions who are in search of a new life away from civil strife, terror and misery by abusively transporting them across borders and between continents for a hefty price. They essentially treat these people like goods, packing them on board often unsuitable vessels, showing no concern whatsoever for their safety and lives.
It has taken the European Union quite a while to get its act together, but we have finally managed to at least sit around a table and focus on the issue. Unfortunately, as the Prime Minister remarked, the deal the EU offered Turkey is a bad one. On the other hand, the alternative is nothing and a humanitarian crisis which nobody seems to know how to handle. The agreement does not offer a durable solution, but it will provide some breathing space for both sides to address the crisis.
Traffickers are in this for the money, so if we want to discourage them from pursuing their activities further, we must render their abominable activity unprofitable. It is essential to make this happen if we really want a durable solution to this thorny issue, and the best way to do it is by removing the demand for their services.
The deal offered to Turkey on Friday has been branded by some as the first serious attempt by the EU to smash the migrant smugglers' business model, at least in the Aegean. However, we need to be extremely careful here: as happens in other businesses, migrant smugglers will not simply throw in the towel, pack and go home but will seek ways to adapt to the new situation. There have been reports that, faced by the closure of the Balkan trail, traffickers are luring migrants to take alternative routes. The International Organisation for Migration has warned that "the Libya to Italy route is getting very, very active". Hundreds of migrants have already been rescued at sea in the past days.
In the last meeting of EU Home Affairs Ministers in Brussels on 10th March, Malta cautioned against measures that will simply shift migratory pressures from the Aegean to other routes, such as through the Adriatic Sea or the centre of the Mediterranean. I stated that this means looking at the collateral effects of every measure we take. It is for this reason that Malta is insisting that aid is also given to other countries should they be adversely affected by a shift in migratory routes as a result of the Turkish trail being blocked.
The unrelenting fight against the criminal gangs behind irregular migration must go on without respite. We must continue addressing the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement. We must waste no time to implement the measures agreed at the Valletta Summit held in Malta last November in order to save lives, respond to and manage migration flows, and advance legal migration and mobility possibilities.
From Malta's point of view, one of the main challenges remains the conflict and instability in Libya, as the bulk of asylum seekers taking the central European route depart from its shores. Although the focus at the moment is on Greece as the main point-of-entry of unauthorised migrants into Europe, the central Mediterranean route is still active and should not be ignored. We must leave no stone unturned to achieve stability in Libya, in order to have a single, reliable interlocutor in this important neighbouring country. The meeting held between Europe's major powers on Libya's situation in the margins of a European Council on Friday was welcome news.
No one can question the importance of properly addressing the issue of migrant smuggling today as opposed to tomorrow, as well as to enhance the element of solidarity in response to the ongoing migrant crisis. It is an unfortunate reality that as things stand today the crime of migrant smuggling remains a low risk - a high-gain option for the perpetrators. It is only the victims, or the users of the 'service' that are confronted with a high-risk cost option, as they are enticed into spending their life savings on a trip that may very well be their last.
Dr Abela is Minister for Home Affairs and National Security