Border Control

EU launches a cooperation with Morocco allocating €152 million comprehensive programme on migration will strengthen Morocco's border management actions in the fight against smuggling networks, the National Strategy of Morocco on Immigration and Asylum,  as well as the voluntary return and the reintegration of migrants to their countries of origin, in accordance with international standards in terms of Human rights.

The European Union signed an agreement with Egypt on Sunday for the first phase of an 80 million-euro border management programme, a statement from the EU delegation in Cairo said, at a time when Egyptian migration to Europe has been rising. The project aims to help Egypt's coast and border guards reduce irregular migration and human trafficking along its border, and provides for the procurement of surveillance equipment such as search and rescue vessels, thermal cameras, and satellite positioning systems, according to an EU Commission document published this month.

Malta and Libya have signed an MoU, valid for three years with an option to extend for an additional year, that sets up coordination centres, one in Malta and one in Libya, funded by Malta to coordinate and support regulation of migrant boats from Libya to European countries. It further stipulates that Malta propose to the EU Commission for increased financial support to strengthen Libyan border security including “for the interception and follow-up of human trafficking activities in the search and rescue region of the Mediterranean basin.”

The MOU between Italy and Libya includes cooperation in combating irregular migration, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, and on reinforcing border security between the two countries. Libya and Italy also agreed to set up a joint operations centre to identify migrant smugglers and human traffickers, facilitating cooperation between the coastguards, the Department of Combatting Illegal Migration, the Libyan Attorney General, and intelligence services from both countries.

This Action Document captures the projects to be committed in 2017 in Egypt under the European Union Emergency Trust Fund for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons in Africa. The overall objective of the proposed Action is to enhance the response to migration challenges in Egypt.

The 2016 MOU between Italy and Libya aims to conduct a training programme for the Libyan coast guard and navy to better secure Libyan waters, and to enhance their law enforcement capacity in tackling human trafficking and migrant smuggling and preventing deaths at sea. This agreement was renewed in 2019.

Law No. 2 concerns the entry, exit and foreign residents in Syria and allows the Department of Migration and Passports to deport foreigners without residence permits and provides for the prosecution of those involved in people smuggling. It was amended with presidential decree No. 30 of 2016, increasing residency permit fees.

Drafted in 2010 and adopted in 2012, this national strategy involves seven ministries, focuses on three sector-specific areas (migration and development, migration and vulnerable groups, and border control and protection of migrants), highlights two cross-cutting areas (knowledge of migration phenomena and the legal framework for migration management), and addresses migrants’ rights, expatriate engagement, human trafficking and migrant smuggling, asylum management, irregular migration and border management.