EU center to fight human trafficking opens in the Hague

By Janene Pieters on February 23, 2016 - 08:11
800px-Boat_People_at_Sicily_in_the_Mediterranean_Sea
Asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean sea (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Vito Manzari). (Asylum seekers crossing the Mediterranean sea (Picture: Wikimedia Commons/Vito Manzari))

A European center to fight human trafficking was launched in The Hague on Monday. The center forms part of the European police organization Europol and its main goal is to assist European Union Member States in dismantling human trafficking networks, NOS reports. 

"The fight against human trafficking is very important for the European approach to the refugee crisis", EU Commissioner of Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos said at the presentation. "We declared war on traffickers." A Europol investigation showed that almost all asylum seekers arriving in Europe traveled with the help of a trafficker, according to the broadcaster.

The center is called the European Migrant Smuggling Center (EMSC). It will work in the same way as other Europol action centers, such as the European Counter Terrorism Center and the European Cybercrime Center

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