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Overcrowding dinghies

Up until 2014, people traffickers took migrants headed for Europe out into international waters on mother ships before transferring them to smaller boats.

But when Rome launched Mare Nostrum in late 2013, Italy began to catch smugglers in international waters, forcing the criminals to change tactics, stay in Libyan waters and put people out to sea in expendable rubber boats which easily sank.

Their business model changed too. In early 2015 many Syrians who had previously accounted for about 25 percent of passengers departing from Libya and could afford to pay more for the journey switched to the Balkan route.

To recover their loses in the central Mediterranean, traffickers upped the number of passengers per vessel. They also largely stopped issuing satellite phones, meaning those in trouble could not call for help.

In 2015 Italys coast guard registered 676 dinghies 80 percent of which had a satellite phone on board carrying an average of 103 people.

By 2016 the number of dinghies had risen to 1,094 with only 45 percent carrying a satellite phone, but each with an average of 122 passengers.

Mass departures stretched rescue resources to the limits: over 13,000 people were saved in five days at the end of May 2016, another 14,000 in four days in August including a record of 7,000 in one day and 10,800 at the start of October.

Tragedies bring rescuers

In 2014, about 70 percent of migrants were rescued by the Italian navy and coast guard, and 24 percent by commercial ships. But amid complaints it was serving as a bridge to Europe for migrants, Italy axed Mare Nostrum.

The safety line was cut, but departures continued, and after two shipwrecks killed 1,200 people in April 2015 the European Union beefed up its Frontex border controls Operation Triton and launched the Sophia anti-smuggling operation.

The tragedies also prompted the launch of privately-funded rescue vessels, with up to a dozen boats taking part at present.

The larger boats combined rescued 26 percent of migrants in 2016, while the smaller ones handed out life jackets and gave emergency care to those in distress while help from bigger vessels arrived.

Italys navy and coast guard still perform 40 percent of rescues, while the Sophia operation carries out 13 percent and Frontex 7.5 percent, according to the coast guard.

Despite their efforts, over 4,500 migrants died or were missing and feared drowned in 2016, and another 1,000 have met the same fate this year. Some succumb to the cold or dehydration, or are suffocated by fuel fumes, or trapped in overcrowded boats.

A profitable business

In total, nearly 550,000 migrants arrived in Italy between 2013 and 2016, and 37,000 have landed in the country so far this year.

According to Sophia, some Libyan coastal areas derive 50 percent of their income from smuggling migrants. A dinghy with 100 passengers can fetch up to 67,000 euros ($73,000), while a wooden boat with 400 people can earn up to 380,000 euros.

Frontex estimates the business has a turnover of between four and six billion euros.

EUs strategy

The European Union is in the process of training and equipping Libyan coast guards so they will be able to prevent departures or at least stop boats reaching international waters.

So far this year over 4,000 migrants have been intercepted, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

The idea is that they be escorted back to camps in Libya, and then returned to their home countries where possible.

But human rights organisations have said the chaotic situation in crisis-hit Libya makes it impossible to declare it a safe place to return migrants, while many of those fleeing war or persecution cannot be simply returned home.

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The Changing Face of the Migrant Crisis in Mediterranean - Breitbart News

Brussels chiefs urgethe Chinese to do more to stop rubber boats falling into the hands of traffickersin the Med

THE EU has blamed China for fuelling the migrant crisis by failing to clamp down on sales of inflatable dinghies.

Brussels chiefs urged the Chinese to do more to stop rubber boats made there falling into the hands of people smugglers.

Getty Images

The traffickers have packed migrants into hundreds of the boats for treacherous journeys across the Med.

Dimitris Avramopoulos, EU commissioner for migration, said: China can help and support the EU in its fight against migrant smugglers.

I requested the support and cooperation from the Chinese authorities in order to track down this business and dismantle it.

Getty Images

EPA

Because what they produce is not serving the common good of the country.

The comments followed a meeting with Chinas public security minister Guo Shengkun.

They come as Brussels braces itself for another harrowing spike in numbers of migrants desperate to reach Europe as the weather improves.

More than 1.5million refugees and migrants have made their way to Europe since 2015.

So far this year, more than 1,000 migrants are thought to have died in waters between Libya and Italy.

Some 37,000 have been rescued and brought to Italy.

Last year Italian coastguards recovered more than a thousand boats packed with an average of 122 passengers.

Reuters

Separately Austria said it wanted to change the rules governing the EUs passport free Schengen zone to extend temporary customs controls due to expire later this year.

Brussels has told EU member states a six-month extension from May must be the final one.

Austria, Denmark, Germany and Sweden introduced the checks in 2015 in a desperate bid to tackle the migrant crisis.

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EU blames China for fuelling migrant crisis by failing to stop sales of inflatable DINGHIES to people smugglers - The Sun

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The Porte de Le Chapelle migrant camp is the largest outdoor makeshift camp in the French capital and is home to several hundred migrants, most of whom come from African countries like Sudan, Eritrea, and Nigeria.

Breitbart London spoke to several of the migrants at the camp, and all of them blamed the French government and Europe for their situation, demanding documentation and access to welfare.

Rolando, 25, said he had only come to Paris two months ago through West Africa and Libya taking a six-day sea voyage to eventually land in Italy. Wearing a Lonsdale tracksuit, the young Nigerian said he had taken a six-month course in international relations and wanted to start a family in France.

He said fighting between migrants was normal, though the police presence that day was increased due to a lorry having overturned next to the camp. Last month, a mass brawlbroke out during food distribution at the camp involving 50 migrants which ended with one man being seriously injured.

Rolando said he didnt like the French people, saying: They prefer seeing us on the streets suffering. I observe people passing by, whenever they gazed at us they would be smiling! As if they are happy seeing us suffering, you understand?

He went on to say: We blame them, for what they did to Africa! Lets assume that they did not spoil our country, you wouldnt have seen me here.

According to Rolando, the terrorist organisations attacking his country like Boko Haram were created by the British spy agency MI6. Our generation are smarter. A white man can not come and deceive me, he said.

Many of the migrants said they were hungry, though charities like the group Utopia 56 often deliver food to the camps in Paris and elsewhere in France. When asked about these pro-migrant NGOs one 32-year-old said: They are bullshit. They deliver water and you know. We dont need nothing, and said hewanted documents from the government instead.

Formerly, the main migrant camp was located near the Stalingrad metro station, which saw mass brawls between the hundreds of migrants who lived there late last year. The former camp has since been cleared by police and the area fenced off to prevent migrants from camping there again.

Stalingrad Metro Station in Paris, site of the former migrant camp. Photo: Chris Tomlinson/Breitbart London

The migrants also said there were more people coming to the camp by the day. Anti-mass migration French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen has promised to close the borders of France to prevent further migration. Ms. Le Pen also said she will get France out of the European Unions open-borders Schengen zone and has promised a referendumon EU membership itself.

Le Pen has been gaining ground on her pro-EU rival Emmanuel Macron in recent polls going into the second round of the French election on 7 May.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJor email at ctomlinson@breitbart.com

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Exclusive: Paris Migrants 'Blame Europe' for the Migrant Crisis - Breitbart News

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The unprecedented migrant crisis in the Mediterranean has sparked the invention of several NGOs, who have launched their own rescue ships. Yet critics in Italy have denounced their invention as a racket that must be stopped.

Sicilian prosecutor Carmelo Zuccaro claimed to have evidence that there are direct contacts between certain NGOs and people traffickers in Libya.

I am 100 percent in agreement with prosecutor Zuccaro

Angelino Alfano

Mr Zuccaro's remarks come just days after Italy's parliament approved a measure to speed up asylum proceedings for migrants processed in Italy.

Minister of Justice Andrea Orlando, refuted the debate and said: It is not appropriate to make up a story saying (aid organisations) working in the Mediterranean are colluding with people smugglers because that is a lie.

UNICEF

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A migrant gestures from behind the bars of a cell at a detention centre in Libya

I hope the Catania prosecutor's office will let its investigations speak for it because I think it's the best way to clarify things quickly.

But not long afterwards, the Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano contradicted Orlando, and said that he agreed 100 per cent with the allegations Zuccaro made.

Mr Alfano continued: I am 100 percent in agreement with prosecutor Zuccaro, as he asked a real question.

Those who become indignant at the drop of a hat are hypocrites.

Mdecins Sans Frontires, whose staff work on two rescue ships, dismissed the claims as baseless.

The United Nations Refugee Agency reported more than 37,000 people have been rescued making the crossing between Africa and Italy this year alone, which constitutes a 40 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2016.

GETTY

The UN also reported that at least 1,000 have died trying to make the trip.

Smugglers have been accused of launching boats packed with migrants from Libyan beaches with little fuel and cheap outboard engines, knowing full well that they are likely to be rescued once they reach international waters.

GETTY

Matteo Salvini, the leader of the right-wing Northern League political party, claims he intends to sue the Italian government.

He said: When 8,500 illegal immigrants arrive in three days, its clear that it is all organised.

It is quite clear that clandestine immigration is being organised. So weve decided to sue the government and the commanders of the navy and coast guard.

Read more:
Migrants '100 per cent being smuggled into Europe by NGOs', Italian minister agrees - Express.co.uk

In an announcement tonight eurocrats said there was no justification for keeping police checkpoints at frontiers within the bloc and said they must be removed by the end of the year.

The diktat means that Austria, Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway will all have to swiftly find alternative ways to police irregular movements of people across their borders.

GETTY

France, which has had checkpoints in place at its borders since the November 2015 terror attacks, is the only country to be exempted as it is still in a state of emergency.

Announcing the measure tonight, the EUs migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos said the time had come to return to a normal functioning of the Schengen area.

EXPRESS

He added that the five member states, which have been given a final six month extension to get their border controls in order, had been made aware of what was expected of them.

The Greek official said: Schengen is one of the greatest achievements of the European project and the most tangible example of European integration.

We must do everything to safeguard protect and defend it. But the only way to do this is in a joint, European and coordinated way.

What we propose today is to gradually phase out temporary internal border controls whilst at the same time strengthening the usual, proportionate police checks across the territory of the member states.

This will be the last prolongation

EU migration chief Dimitris Avramopoulos

Mr Avramopoulos warned: These temporary border controls, and this goes for all internal border controls, should be exceptional, proportionate and as a last resort for a strict and a limited period.

This will be the last prolongation. No more than the next six months. They [member states] know that this is the last prolongation.

However, the member states will not be granted any additional powers to police their borders above and beyond what was already in place two years ago when the migration crisis first began.

Instead Mr Avramopoulos said national authorities should make use of the existing police powers more effectively and cited the example of increasing camera checks on motorway traffic.

Eurocrats said the border controls could be lifted because the blocs external frontiers, which are not patrolled by a centralised Brussels coastguard, are more secure.

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First Vice-President Frans Timmermans said: "Thanks to our joint efforts, our external borders are now stronger and more secure. By working together it is possible to have both security and freedom of movement.

This means that in six months' time we will get back to a fully functioning Schengen area without internal border controls."

The five countries, which all saw unprecedented levels of migration via the Western Balkans route through 2015 and 2016, last had their permission to carry out internal checks renewed in February this year.

A controversial and vulnerable deal between the EU and Turkey has seen the number of people arriving in Greece plummet to just two per cent compared to at the height of the migrant crisis.

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BORDER BOMBSHELL: Brussels orders EU countries to SCRAP internal checks within six months - Express.co.uk