European Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi called on Wednesday 1 December for greater international cooperation to fight against networks of smuggling of migrants and trafficking in human beings in order to "
defeat
" them.
Read alsoMigration: within the EU, the Valletta pre-agreement is not successful
The European official was speaking at the opening of the first Euro-Arab conference on border security, which takes place over two days in Amman, with the participation of around 100 security officials from 44 countries according to the Jordanian authorities .
This meeting comes a week after a new murderous migratory drama: the death on November 24 of 27 migrants in the sinking in the Channel of their boat bound for the United Kingdom.
An "immense human suffering"
It is also being held as thousands of people, including many Iraqi Kurds, have gathered on the Belarusian border to travel to the eastern EU members. Polish media estimate that at least a dozen people have died on both sides of the border. "
We need greater and better cooperation in the fight against criminal organizations engaged in human trafficking,
" Varhelyi said Wednesday.
According to him, these criminal networks “
promote corruption, destabilize our societies, and cause immense human suffering.
They are also "
often involved in the smuggling of weapons and drugs and sometimes finance terrorist organizations."
The European official thus considered "
essential to deploy greater efforts, these criminal organizations being transnational by nature
". "
Only close international cooperation will allow us to defeat them,
" he insisted. He thus underlined the assistance provided by the European Union (EU) to Arab countries to help them secure their borders. "
We have been supporting Integrated Border Management (GIF) across the region for several years, particularly in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and here in Jordan.
"
Read also Migrant crisis: France accuses Belarus of "organized human trafficking"
“
One of our flagship projects, the EU for Border Security (EU4Border Security), seeks to strengthen security in North Africa and the Levant region by promoting bilateral and regional cooperation, implemented by (the European border agency) Frontex and within the framework of which this conference was organized,
”said Varhelyi.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/WSGIPYQJ3ZBJBLTWACM5ZX2QGA.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/GZBJJXO3EZE2HLSP5ZRRKYYYOY.JPG)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/RIEGNR2BRDHJGVEUXQK5ZTXPMI.jpg)
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/BCB6MJLFNJFHTOKKFRCSCPHTFQ.jpg)
