Posted by Eric Haun
Thursday, July 02, 2015
Photo: TORM A-S
ESC Global
Security has called for the Mediterranean to be classed a maritime High
Risk Area in the wake of the terrorist atrocities in Tunisia and
Europe’s escalating migration crisis.
“There is a reasonable doubt that some refugees from these areas
will be a threat to European security. Terrorists and fundamentalists
will take advantage of the crisis if they haven’t already,” said Jaanus
Rahumägi, president and CEO of ESC Global Security. “With thousands
crossing the Mediterranean from Africa and the Middle East each month,
the abolition of Europe’s internal frontiers will make it easier for
terrorists to move across Europe undetected. But the identities of
migrants can be verified before they reach land by security personnel.”
However, Rahumägi dismissed calls to shift EUNAVFOR Atlanta, the
European naval patrol operating in the Red Sea, to the Mediterranean in
order to capture or destroy migrant ships.
“This is not the answer. Moving Atlanta simply because the risk of
Somali piracy has been reduced does not mean it has been eradicated. A
separate EUNAVFOR patrol is required and the Mediterranean should be
given High Risk Area status until the migrant situation has been
resolved,” he said.
“According to newspaper reports, there are thought to be about a
million migrants looking to enter Europe across the Mediterranean from
North Africa. But if merchant ships continue to go to their aide without
adequate protection, then there is a significant risk to maritime
security. Mediterranean shipping lanes must be protected in the same way
that the merchant fleet is protected when it transits the Gulf of Aden
and the southern Red Sea,” Rahumägi said.
“If we are to mitigate the security risks associated with this
humanitarian crisis, Brussels, the maritime administrations and the
security services must work in concert.”
Rahumägi’s comments coincided with a joint statement issued last
week by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the
International Organization for Migration (IOM). IMO Secretary-General
Koji Sekimizu and IOM Director-General William L. Swing agreed to
establish an inter-agency platform to disseminate information, highlight
the dangers of and find a solution to the unsafe and irregular
migration by sea.
The IMO and IOM urged the international community to take robust
measures against people smugglers “who operate without fear or remorse
and who deliberately and knowingly endanger the lives of thousands of
migrants at sea.”