Tusk calls on G20 leaders to be 'less cynical' in migrant smuggling fight
EU President Donald Tusk on Friday called on G20 leaders to be "less cynical" in the fight against human trafficking, urging countries to back a proposal that would levy UN sanctions against migrant smugglers.
EU President Donald Tusk (R) is urging G20 leaders to be more determined to fight against people smugglers in the migrant crisis
Leaders of the world's top 20 economies, including US President Donald Trump, are in Hamburg for a two-day G20 summit, where climate change and trade are expected to be the main topics but migration will also be discussed.
"We should try to convince our partners to be more active, more positive, less cynical, more determined, when it comes to our common fight against smugglers and the whole dirty business in Libya," Tusk said during a press conference in Hamburg.
Europe has this week been struggling with proposals on how to deal with a renewed influx of migrants that has forced Italy to accept around 85,000 of the 100,000 people who have arrived this year.
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Most are sub-Saharan Africans crossing the Mediterranean Sea from Libya, a journey that has claimed more than 2,200 lives so far this year, UN figures show.
Last year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) recorded 335,000 migrants heading northwards out of Niger, some heading for Algeria, but most going to Libya in hope of either finding work there or boarding a boat to Europe.
Agadez, a remote town in Niger on the edge of the Sahara, has become the smuggling capital of Africa, where traffickers prey on would-be migrants headed for Europe.
A trip usually costs between 200,000 to one million CFA francs (300-1,500 euros/$340-$1,700) per person for a journey smugglers claim will end up in Europe, but often goes no further than Agadez or Libya.
According to Tusk, the illegal business generates $1.6 billion in Libya alone, which he said allows smugglers to control parts of the country and cooperate with terrorists which serves to undermine Libya's stability.
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"This is why I will propose to all the G20 leaders to pursue targeted UN sanctions against smugglers," particularly asset freezes and travel bans, he said.
"It is the very minimum that can be done at the global level", but "unfortunately I have to say that today we do not have the full support even for that minimum," Tusk said.
"If we do not get it, it will be a sad proof of the hypocrisy of some of the G20 members".
According to an official involved in the G20 talks, the idea of sanctions has "found good support but also opposition from Russia and China". The leaders will discuss migration on Saturday, the official said.
The massive influx of migrants has revived fears of a return to the European Union's migrant crisis of 2015, when hundreds of thousands of people arrived on the continent in search of a better life.
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