In 2018, the EU mission to fight human trafficking, Operation Sophia, has rescued 2,292 people, bringing the total rescued since its start in 2015 to nearly 45,000. 26 out of 28 European member states other than Denmark and Slovakia, participate in the operation.
In 2017, the operation saved 11,617 people; in 2016, 22,885 people; and in 2015, 7,402 people. The number of people rescued is roughly 9% of all people rescued at sea.
551 boats stopped
As part of the mission, 237 Libyan Coast Guard and Navy sailors have been trained, and 551 boats have been stopped, with 151 suspected human traffickers turned over to Italian judicial authorities. In addition, 2,199 checks have been performed regarding the arms embargo. Operation Sophia's main objective is the fight against human trafficking, a mandate that was broadened to the training of the Libyan Coast Guard and Navy, checks on the UN arms embargo, and information activities to fight oil smuggling.
No EU accord on Sophia, Rome threatens to leave
At the EU Political and Security (PSC) on August 28, no progress was made on modification to the operations plan on disembarkation ports for migrants rescued in Operation Sophia. Currently, the plan calls for disembarkation in Italy, the country leading the mission. The Italian government wants this to change by the end of August, despite the fact that the mandate doesn't expire until the end of the year. Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini is pushing particularly hard for the change. "If the rules of some international and naval missions don't change, we'll do without them," Salvini said.
Without any progress made on this point, despite the fact that Brussels had promised to speed up the process, bringing in technical groups and PSC meetings in August, the unresolved issue will now have to wait until the informal defense ministers meeting on August 30 in Vienna. The Italian foreign minister made his intentions clear, however. He said even if "the persistence of some political knots to untie made it so that today, as was predictable, no significant steps forward were made, the member states have agreed on the need to revise the operational plan, including the mission's rules of engagement, quickly".