A unanimous Security Council resolution on migrant smuggling and human trafficking off the Libyan coast
The UN Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution No. 2546 on Libya, by which it renewed for 12 months permission for member states to inspect ships on the high seas off the coast of Libya, if they were suspected of smuggling migrants or human trafficking.
The resolution, drafted by Germany, also authorizes UN member states to seize these ships. The resolution condemned “all acts of smuggling of migrants and human trafficking towards, through, and departing from, and off the Libyan coast, which further undermine the stabilization process in Libya and endanger the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”
Prior to the adoption of the resolution, Gunter Sutter, deputy permanent representative of Germany to the United Nations, spoke to reporters, saying that the resolution was an excellent step and an important development.
The first Security Council resolution on the detention of ships off the coast of Libya was adopted in October 2015 and extended by Resolution 2491 (October 2019), and today’s decision represents an extension of the original mandate.
To date, the European Union is the only regional organization implementing the mandate, via its process known as IRINI.
The German delegate said that a ministerial meeting on Libya would be held on Monday, the fifth of October, chaired by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the German Foreign Minister.
He said that the meeting comes at a precise time, pointing to a number of encouraging developments, including the security talks that took place in Egypt, the agreement on a political transition, and oil exports. But he added that there are many problems that need to be solved, namely the ceasefire and the future of the political process.
Monday’s meeting is a follow-up to the Berlin conference held in January, and the Security Council adopted its outputs in Resolution 2510.
