[JURIST] European Union [official website] leaders announced [press release] Friday that a final quota compromise had been reached regarding the large number of illegal immigrants arriving in Italy and Greece after crossing the Mediterranean sea. It is estimated that over 120,000 migrants have made the dangerous sea crossing in the past year, most fleeing from Syria and other war-torn nations. The final compromise of relocating 40,000 immigrants in the next two years into EU member countries was strongly supported [Independent report] by Italian PM Matteo Renzi. Many EU countries, notably Eastern European countries, have rejected the mandatory quota initiative and the UK was opted out of the plan. At the meeting, leaders discussed strategies to prevent the further loss of life at sea as well as ways to deal with the smugglers and traffickers according to international law while respecting the right to seek asylum. A consensus decisions regarding the distribution of immigrants is expected by the end of July. A strong policy of reintegration to the country of origin for illegal migrants who do not qualify for international protection was also proposed as a way to discourage people from continuing to risk their lives at sea.

Refugees from conflict areas in Africa and the Middle East have generated a tremendous humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean with hundreds of deaths in recent months. Early in June a British warship sailing in the Mediterranean Sea launched a mission [JURIST report] to rescue over 500 migrants stranded at sea. Also in June Amnesty International called [JURIST report] the situation the worst refugee crisis since World War II. In April top UN human rights officials and the International Organization for Migration issued a joint statement [JURIST report] calling on the EU to create a new rescue operation program for migrants attempting to traverse the Mediterranean and to commit to greater receipt of refugees. Also in April UN rights experts warned [JURIST report] the EU that repression of irregular migration cannot be the only solution to the recurrent grave problem of masses of people drowning at sea. In February a Spanish court accused 16 civil guards [JURIST report] of using excessive force against 15 sub-Saharan immigrants who drowned attempting to swim around a seawall between Ceuta and Morocco last February.