EU: Work with dictators to fight trafficking

The EU’s migration chief insisted that the bloc must work with dictatorships in order to fight smugglers who traffic migrants to Europe, often using dangerous sea routes across the Mediterranean. The 28-member EU said it was pushing forward the launch of a new migration policy to mid-May because of the urgency in dealing with the flood of migrants across the Mediterranean, many of them fleeing conflicts in Syria and Libya. The comments by Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration and home affairs, came as at least 10 more people were reported dead after a migrant boat capsized off Sicily.  “We’re not naive. And the fact that we cooperate in the framework of the Khartoum and Rabat process (EU agreements with African countries) with the dictatorial regimes, we do not legalize them,” Avramopoulos said.

Read the full story on Rappler.