World's seven wealthiest countries set up police network to tackle trafficking of migrants

G7 plan will establish group of law enforcement officials based in the countries that migrants come from, as well as several transit nations

Migrants wait to disembark from the Geo Barents rescue ship, operated by Medecins Sans Frontieres, in Livorno port, Italy. Reuters

The world’s seven wealthiest nations have agreed to set up special police units to tackle the trafficking of migrants, Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi has said.

Speaking at the end of a three-day meeting of his G7 counterparts that also focused on threats from the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine, Mr Piantedosi said the dismantling of the trafficking cartels is “a priority”.

“The action plan provides for the strengthening of the investigative and operational capacities of the police forces, including through the initiation of joint actions,” he told reporters on Friday after the talks in Mirabella Eclano in southern Italy.

“We reiterated with one voice that the dismantling of the trafficking cartels is a priority,” he added. The plan will see the countries establish a network of law enforcement officials based in the countries that migrants come from, as well as several transit nations they pass through to collect intelligence on the gangs.

The G7 comprises the US, Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Canada. The special units will include officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force.

“Criminal smuggling gangs who organise small boat crossings undermine our border security and put lives at risk. Our new government is rapidly accelerating co-operation with other countries to crack down on these dangerous gangs,” said Britain’s Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper.

“Today’s newly agreed G7 action plan provides an important focus on international law enforcement and reflects our determination to work with global partners on these shared challenges. New international joint investigative teams will help to co-ordinate cross-border action and supplement the measures we have already taken to set up the UK Border Security Command and back it with new funding.

“The plan will help to increase both voluntary and enforced returns of migrants to countries of origin. It aims to offer migrants more choices and improve the overall management of migration flows.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government, which holds the G7 rotating presidency for 2024, has sought co-operation with the European Union and African governments to put human traffickers out of business.

The new action plan stresses the need for closer co-operation among the G7 nations and with countries of origin and transit of the irregular migration flows.

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G7 members should create “law enforcement units specialised in crimes and investigations in the field of migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons” if they do not already exist, they said in a joint statement.

Ms Meloni last year signed a deal with Albania to build reception camps there, where migrants would be housed while their asylum claims are processed. It will fund and manage the centres, which will be capable of accommodating up to 3,000 migrants who have arrived on Italian shores by boat.

Mr Piantedosi said the camps would become operational in the next weeks, adding that the Italian initiative in Albania was among topics discussed at the G7 ministers' gathering. “It is a solution that everyone is looking at with great interest,” he said.

They include British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has promised a “new era” of international enforcement to dismantle gangs to “protect our shores and bring order to the asylum system”.

Mr Starmer has faced growing pressure to tackle the small boats crisis. On Friday, migrants were brought to shore after crossing the English Channel, taking the provisional total for 2024 to date to 25,244. Following latest data released on Thursday, the total for the year so far is down 0.3 per cent on this time last year (25,330) and 25 per cent lower than the same period in 2022 (33,611).