UN Urges EU to Help Italy Deal With Migrant Influx

Illegal migrants from Africa arrive on shore after being rescued by Libyan coast guards rescued at sea, off the coastal town of Guarabouli, 36 miles east of the capital Tripoli on May 18, 2017. (MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP/Getty Images)

Italy has been crying out to the EU to help with the migrants that arrive in a constant stream to its shores.

Italy can no longer deal with the issue by itself. The U.N. is urging other EU countries to provide disembarkation ports.

Over 84,000 migrants have reached Italy by sea this year so far, and the numbers aren’t letting up. Migrants risk their lives by leaving from the coast of Libya and head out on a dangerous journey on the Mediterranean Sea. The ones who survive are rescued by aid ships.

Vincent Cochetel, the UNHCR special envoy for the Central Mediterranean, gave some more possible solutions.

“We need also to disrupt the wider smuggling economy of Libya. A number of countries in the world are purchasing smuggled oil from Libya, from the very same communities that protect the traffickers, so again, Europe and other countries need to be coherent and stop the purchase of smuggled oil from Libya. Finally, we need to do more in terms of naming, shaming and freezing the assets and imposing travel bans on some of the known traffickers in Libya,” he said.