THE REASON BEHIND THE END OF THE OPERATION MARE NOSTRUM (OMN): A SUCCESSFUL SEARCH AND RESCUE OPERATION BY ITALIAN NAVY DURING 2013-2014

The European Union (EU) has been facing the biggest humanity crisis
since 2013. It sounds to have a serious problem on dealing with the
coming migrant/immigrant people from many conflicting area in the world
such as Syria (from the civil war), North Africa (especially from Eritrea
which is rooted in its harsh military services), Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and
many more. Operation Mare Nostrum (OMN) was established last
October, 2013 and was considered as the most successful program with
Italy as the sole host-state which was also held by their navy. It aimed to
tackle the dramatic increase of migratory flows during the second half of
the year and consequent tragic ship wreckages off the island of
Lampedusa. In the last quarter of 2013, EU rejected to continue this
operation and being criticized by many parties. The EU’s prediction and
Italy’s decision were blamed as a wrong decision. However, there would
be always reason behind the decision which was made by the Italy to end
the OMN.
Keyword: Operation Mare Nostrum, Migrant Crisis, Italian Navy, Joint
Responsibility, Decision Making