The United Kingdom has held its first summit against illegal migration, bringing together representatives from over 40 countries and organisations.
The summit, which takes place on Monday, aims to tackle people smuggling gangs into the country and improve border security with expected outcomes across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and North America.
The UK Home Office stated that this summit represents an important milestone in the worldwide initiative to combat people-smuggling operations, which include small boat smuggling, online trafficking, and unlawful financial networks.
The summit also featured discussions with social media companies like Meta, X, and TikTok to explore ways to stop the online promotion of irregular migration.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stressed the importance of global collaboration in disrupting smuggling networks, saying, “Smugglers and trafficking gangs make their money crossing borders, so law enforcement needs to work together across borders to bring them down.
“Only a coordinated international response, across the whole irregular migration route can effectively dismantle these networks.”
The UK government allocated £30 million to high-impact operations targeting supply chains and trafficking routes and an additional £3 million to enhance the Crown Prosecution Service’s ability to prosecute international smugglers.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer noted the need for cross-border cooperation, drawing from his experience as Director of Public Prosecutions.
“This vile trade exploits the cracks between our institutions, pits nations against one another and profits from our inability at the political level to come together.
“When I was the Director of Public Prosecutions, we worked across borders throughout Europe and beyond to foil numerous plots, saving thousands of lives in the process. We prevented planes from being blown up over the Atlantic and brought the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
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