Not so Humanitarian after All? Assessing EU Naval Mission Sophia

This paper adds to the debate on the role of norms in the EU’s maritime foreign and security policy through a study of the EU anti-smuggling naval mission ‘Sophia’. According to the EU, Sophia was launched in 2015 in response to the migration crisis in the Mediterranean, as increasingly more people died at sea while trying to reach Europe’s shores. For example, the Council’s decision on the launch of a naval mission states that its main aim is to prevent further loss of life at sea, to tackle the root causes of the ongoing emergency situation in line with the relevant international law provisions, and that its immediate priority is to prevent more people from dying at sea. Critiques of the EU naval mission have however questioned its legitimacy, claiming instead that such justifications are mainly rhetoric, covering up the member states’ self-interest in trying to reduce the flow of sea-born migration to Europe. Studying the relevance of this claim, this analysis shows that although Sophia is a search and rescue operation, the EU failed to live up to all the human rights standards it has set for itself in the conduct of the mission. Instead, as the refugee crisis continues and Sophia is amended, the EU seems to be moving towards becoming more of a traditional foreign policy actor.