EU States Agree To Prolong Migrant Rescue Sea Mission Sophia Until March 2019 - Committee

The EU countries agreed to prolong the Operation Sophia, formally European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EU NAVFOR Med), aimed at rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea as well as countering human trafficking, for three months until March 2019, the EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) The EU countries agreed to prolong the Operation Sophia, formally European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EU NAVFOR Med), aimed at rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea as well as countering human trafficking, for three months until March 2019, the EU Political and Security Committee (PSC) said.

The mission was prolonged for three months instead of a year, as it has been done before, because of Italy's wish to change the mission's regulations in order to avoid accepting migrants rescued in the central Mediterranean route.

"The PSC agreed to prolong the mandate of the EU NAVFOR Med (Sophia) operation for three months," the committee said, as quoted by Welt.

The EUNAVFOR MED mission, later dubbed Sophia, has been active since 2015 and aims to save migrants and halt human trafficking in the Mediterranean. Since June 2016, the mission has been additionally tasked with training the Libyan coastguard.

The European Union has been experiencing a large-scale migration crisis since 2015 due to the influx of hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees fleeing crises in their home countries in the middle East and North Africa.