The migration of thousands of people across the Mediterranean is not some natural, unavoidable phenomenon. Nor, for the most part, is it a consequence of conflict. It is a cynical, commercial operation run by people-traffickers for their personal gain. They exploit the humanitarian instincts of governments and people across Europe and the outdated international laws concerning treatment of those claiming asylum.
Recently I have seen at first hand the expensive and complex EU arrangements and the extraordinary effort that the Italian authorities have put into handling the surge of people entering its ports since 2014 using the central Mediterranean route. Last year some 114,542 were logged using this route, 67 per cent of the total across the Mediterranean. This year so far the numbers are