An Cosantóir

An Cosantóir June 2018 www.dfmagazine.ie 44 | By CPO/ERA RUAIRí DE BARRA C urrently, LÉ Samuel Beckett is on patrol in the Mediter- ranean with its 56-strong crew. The vessel is the physi- cal embodiment of Ireland's commitment to an EU mission that is determined to break apart the callous criminal enterprises that have extracted huge profits from the misery and death of thousands of innocents. With an EU and UN mandate, the roles begin played by the Naval Service in EUNAVFOR Med 'Operation Sophia', are very different from those which were undertaken by other NS vessels that have deployed since 2015, when LÉ Eithne first headed south as part of the EU response to what has been interchangeably referred to as, the 'Mediterranean', 'migration' or 'refugee' crisis. During the early months of 2015 there had been substantial criticism of the EU for its 'cost-cutting, continental infighting and bureaucratic indifference', which had 'turned the Mediter- ranean into a graveyard' (Haddad 2015). In response, a special meeting of EU heads of state in the European Council in April 2015 concluded that the EU would 'mobilise all efforts at its disposal to prevent further loss of life at sea and to tackle the root causes of the human emergency'. Arising from that meeting was a commitment by the Irish government to provide a naval asset in a primarily humanitar- ian role. 'Operation Pontus' saw Irish warships co-operating with other EU naval and search-and-rescue assets off the Libyan Coast. This also saw them operating at the edges of the security afforded by EU naval task forces in the area of operations, as they worked at the coalface of search-and-res- cue operations, with nearly 18,000 migrants recovered from ramshackle craft. As the EU member states agreed to strengthen the EU's 'presence at sea, to fight the traffickers, to prevent illegal migration flows and to reinforce internal solidarity and re- sponsibility', they also decided to initiate a Common Foreign and Security Policy crisis management operation within the framework of the EU's Maritime Security Strategy. Originally referred to as EUNAVFOR MED, the EU High Representative Federica Mogherini later had a proposal accepted to rename it 'Operation Sophia', after a baby born on board one of the participating ships. In late 2017 LÉ Niamh ceased its Operation Pontus mission and joined Operation Sophia, the Naval Service's first armed overseas peace-support operation. While NS personnel have participated in nearly every overseas mission since the earliest days of Ireland's UN service, they had done so in army uniform and in traditional army roles, so joining Operation Sophia was a historic and a long awaited day. NS staff officers and NCOs are also serving onboard the Fleet HQ vessel, the aircraft carrier and Italian flagship ITS San Giusto, and they are also serving ashore in Italy, where Cdr Kenneth Minehane is currently Force Protection Officer with the Operational HQ in Rome He describes the mission as "part of the wider EU 'compre- hensive response' to irregular migration", adding that a core mandate is the "disrup- tion of the business model of human smug- gling and trafficking net- works in the Southern Central Mediterranean". The EU force's naval assets will achieve this, he says, "through the identification, capturing, and disposal of vessels and associated assets suspected of being em- ployed for smuggling or trafficking activities". The European Coun- cil's decision on Opera- tion Sophia's launch states that an EU mission was nec- essary 'to prevent further loss of life and to tackle the root causes of the ongoing emergency situation in line with the relevant interna- tional law provisions', and that its immediate priority is 'to prevent more people from dying at sea'. To achieve these aims, Operation Sophia has been conducted in four sequential phases. First, there was a deployment and assess- ment phase, including information gathering and patrolling to monitor migrant smuggling activities and to build a compre- hensive understanding of smuggling activity and methods. This phase is now complete. The second phase involved the boarding, search, seizure and diversion of vessels suspected of participating in human smuggling or trafficking on the high seas under the conditions provided for by applicable international law. The third phase expands this activity, up to and including taking operational measures against vessels and related assets suspected of being used for human smuggling or trafficking inside the coastal state's territory. Once again, this is subject to the necessary legal framework established by UN Security Council resolution and following coastal state consent; The fourth, and last, phase will consist of the withdrawal of forces and completion of the operation. The European Council is responsible for assessing whether the conditions for transition between the operation phases

• Cover