The European Union (EU) and Egypt are committed to taking action against smugglers and traffickers, who put lives at risk but are aware of the risks they may face, EU Ambassador to Cairo Christian Berger said on Sunday.
The EU ambassador said in a recorded video that human trafficking and the smuggling of migrants is a global issue that no country or region can tackle alone.
He stressed the need to “work together, as we do in Egypt, through our effective partnership with the National Coordinating Committee to Combat and Prevent Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Human Beings, EU member states and UN bodies, in order to avoid the tragic situations that result from this happening again.”
Smuggling migrants is a lucrative business for criminal networks, with an estimated annual cost of several billion euros worldwide.
The smugglers use land, sea and air routes, Burger said, to facilitate irregular migration to and within the EU region.
Smuggling of migrants was increasingly associated with flagrant human rights violations and deaths, especially when smuggling was carried out by sea.
The loss of life at the hands of smugglers in the Mediterranean reminds us of the urgent need to address the smuggling of migrants through all available legal, operational and administrative means, he concluded.
