How should NATO respond?

Issues related to migration have been formally integrated within the Atlantic Alliance’s agenda only recently. Indeed, an important event that might represent the first concrete step towards an Atlantic approach on migration dates back to 2016, in which NATO Defense Ministers agreed in supporting Greece and Turkey, and the European agency, Frontex, during the migration crisis, by deploying maritime forces in the Aegan Sea.

Within this operation, NATO’s Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) managed to provide an immediate response (within 48 hours), by conducting surveillance and monitoring operations (NATO, 2016c). Following the impact of the migration and refugee crisis on the European continent, along with this first step towards a safer and more controlled Mediterranean, NATO launched operation Sea Guardian, to which the SNMG2 has been affiliated. Administered by a Command located in Northwood (UK), this operation has a broader mandate on responding to several kinds of Maritime Security Operation (MSO) tasks, aimed at keeping the Mediterranean safe. Among these tasks, Sea Guardian is responsible for providing maritime situational awareness, capacity building, information

72 sharing, and maritime counterterrorism. Most importantly, operation Sea Guardian aims at keeping a tight surveillance in the Mediterranean Sea, in cooperation with the EU and its Operation Sophia (NATO, 2021q).

As migration trends will inevitably increase in the future, due to the expected population growth in the African continent, movements of people across the Mediterranean will remain a major concern for Europe and the Atlantic Alliance. Thus, it is important to understand what are the security implications that may concern NATO.

One of the main factors that emphasizes the need for an improved strategy is related to human trafficking and smuggling, and the criminal networks related to them. Both crimes represent two lucrative networks for non-State armed groups in the African continent.

Despite improved management and law enforcement have strengthened controls over the border, criminal activities still represent a major issue. Thus, this creates the opportunity for NATO to propose a more comprehensive approach, in which the Alliance and other regional actors should cooperate, in order to guarantee a stronger surveillance system of the main routes in the Mediterranean Sea. Even though NATO is not the main organization responsible for countering human trafficking (NATO, 2007), it has taken into account the issue as major concern (NATO, 2004). But still, more can be done.

Considering its development over time, especially with the Warsaw Summit in 2016, the Alliance’s approach on irregular migration and illicit trafficking coming from the African continent might be revised, in order to present a stronger Atlantic response to the increasing threat. With the 2016 Summit, NATO created a new Joint Intelligence and Security Division (JISD), which aims at promoting a more comprehensive approach to security, by providing strategic warnings and situational awareness at the NATO Head Quarters. This new Division, according to von Loringhoven (2017), “the most significant reform in history of Allied intelligence”. Not only it manages to provide immediate information on possible threats for the Alliance, but it represents an important network that is helping NATO to monitor the magnitude of different threats, that can vary from cyber-attacks, to terrorism and other threats posed by NATO’s counterparts. Thus, within the increasing importance of migration flows and their security implications within the Euro-Atlantic area, the JISD would provide an essential network that will be able to monitor the main routes in the Mediterranean. Furthermore, by improving NATO’s relationships with its African partners, as well as increasing the role of the Southern Hub

73 in Naples, the Intelligence system would be further strengthened, as it would amplify its networks toward the Southern Flank.

Along with a stronger intelligence system, following the “softer part” of Projecting Stability (as Dr. Tardy called it in his interview – see Annex D), the development of capacity building projects aimed at improving the effectiveness of operations in the African continent may represent another important tool aimed at countering human trafficking. Indeed, considering the African Union’s Standby Force (the Africa Standby Force – ASF), would be an important operating tool, in which the Alliance could provide enough resources to the African Union, that would foster interregional security cooperation (Akuffo, 2011). Along with the African Union, the G5 Sahel might be another force to with which NATO should organize capacity building projects aimed at strengthening a Joint Force from the Sahel, which would be able to better identify the main channels and organizations responsible for those illicit activities.

At the same time, NATO should develop a more coordinated approach with the European Union in countering irregular migration. After the experience in the Aegean Sea, a stronger cooperation between NATO and Frontex might represent an important practical cooperation, in which both the organizations can share their expertise and information with each other, in order to provide a comprehensive strategy in the Mediterranean Sea. Following what has been argued by Frattini in his speech (see Annex A), “NATO can and should complement and implement together with EU missions the political goal”, and a stronger military cooperation in the Mediterranean between NATO and European capacities would lead to a stronger Europe, that would produce more results than what has been done by other operations, such as the IRINI (EUNAVFOR MED IRINI) mission, whose arms embargo declared by the UN Security Council has not provided enough responses against illicit traffics of resources and human trafficking across the Mediterranean Sea (UNSC, 2021).²⁶

Since only few steps have been made so far on this topic, NATO’s further involvement in migration issues represents an important step to be taken in countering threats that might affect the Alliance’s security. Not only by strengthening its own capacities, but also by promoting stronger cooperation initiatives with the European

26 For more information on Operation IRINI, see https://www.operationirini.eu/about-us/ . Regarding its few results, see https://www.ecoi.net/en/file/local/2047327/S_2021_229_E.pdf .

74 Union and the African Union, in order to provide a on both shores of the Mediterranean, NATO would bring an important additional value in the monitoring process of the Mediterranean, aimed at countering irregular flows of migrants generated from human smuggling and trafficking.

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3. Going beyond military operations: how NATO can