Mandate extends as smuggler profits soar
Following the decision by the European Commission to extend the mandate of the EUNAVFOR mission to the Mediterranean, otherwise known as Operation Sophia, the force will increasingly focus on the dangerous central migrant route.
According to the UNHCR, there have been 208,150 arrivals by sea in 2016. More than one million entered the EU last year.
So far this year 2,856 people migrants attempting a sea crossing are listed as dead or missing. The total number of those dead or missing at sea is approaching 13,000 since records began in 2010.
The extension will come into effect on 27
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