Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they plan to take to help prevent people traffickers from operating on Libyan territory.

At the Foreign Affairs Council on 22 June EU members agreed to launch a military Common Security and Defence Policy operation to disrupt the business model of the smugglers and traffickers. This will be conducted in a phased approach starting with surveillance and intelligence work. The UK is making an appropriate contribution to the EU’s mission by deploying HMS Enterprise and a Merlin helicopter.

To stop the flows reaching Libya in the first place, we are engaging with source and transit countries to address the causes why migrants leave their home countries, through development aid, humanitarian support, addressing human rights abuses and tackling conflict. The UK is a member of the Core Group of the Khartoum Process, which will be important in developing collaboration between EU and source/transit countries. The initial focus will be on developing concrete actions to combat people smuggling and trafficking on the Horn of Africa/East Africa migratory route. The Department for International Development is helping shape the EU’s development spending to effectively address the root causes of migration across Africa and the Middle East.

The UK is working to bring order and stability in Libya to make it a more difficult operating environment for smugglers and traffickers. That is why the UK urges all parties in the Libyan political dialogue led by UN Special Representative of the Secretary General, Bernadino Leon, to sign an agreement and establish a representative Government of National Accord (GNA). Only a stable and representative GNA can deal with the political and security challenges Libya faces, including the control of its borders. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and our diplomatic network have intensively lobbied Libyan negotiators and regional governments in support of the agreement. We welcome regional efforts and those of the African Union and others in support of the process.