By Kylie Bull
HSToday
The European Schengen Agreement is again under scrutiny after countries have begun implementing border controls, effectively pausing Schengen.
The Schengen Agreement – which enables passport-free movement – can be temporarily paused in emergency situations, which is exactly what Europe is facing right now as a result of the migrant crisis.
More than 500,000 migrants were detected at EU external borders in the first eight months of this year after a fifth consecutive monthly record was registered in August when 156,000 crossed the EU borders. By comparison, in 2014, there were 280,000 detected at EU borders.
The Greek islands again saw the biggest number of detected migrants in August at 88,000, an 11-fold increase compared to the same month last year. Nearly three-quarters of the people arriving from Turkey were Syrians.
The migrants arriving from Turkey speak about increasingly aggressive and cruel smugglers who ignore worsening weather conditions and force migrants on overcrowded rubber boats to squeeze a bigger profit out of every trip.
The heads of INTERPOL and Europol have called for urgent and coordinated action by law enforcement to identify and disrupt the organized crime networks behind the unprecedented levels of people smuggling.
The need for coordinated action at the national, regional and international levels to address this rapidly escalating security issue was a key discussion point during the meeting between INTERPOL Secretary General Jürgen Stock and Europol Director Rob Wainwright at the INTERPOL General Secretariat headquarters on September 11.
The two leaders have called on their respective services to urgently organize a summit of senior police officers form source, transit and destination countries.
“As we mark the anniversary of 9/11, an event which completely changed the security landscape, it is more important than ever that governments support law enforcement in implementing a need to share, rather than need to know, philosophy,” said Secretary General Stock.
“Criminals who prey on the desperation of those fleeing conflict or poverty are making millions in profits, which can then be used to fuel corruption and fund other forms of serious transnational crime,” Stock said.
“We need each of our 190 member countries to play their part in providing the information which could be crucial in bringing these ‘merchants of misery’ to justice,” Stock added.
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