Drones against human trafficking

In these last dramatic days of news, the idea has emerged of using military drones to monitor the boats of human traffickers coming from the Libyan coast, both for reconnaissance and for actual military action. The problem is that, at the moment, no European state has armed UAVs, such as the famous Predator, which would have to be "borrowed" from the USA.

This is what was stated by the president of the ICSA Foundation (former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and military adviser to three prime ministers), General Leonardo Tricarico.

These are the considerations for the military emergency.
But there is a civil and human emergency (we think "humanitarian" is too reductive a term) that must be considered a priority, as everyone knows.
In this case, it is civilian DRONES that can be a real and strong help in recovering shipwreck victims and survivors more quickly and with fewer risks. This is to reduce the number of victims and help with rescue operations, as already happened after terrible earthquakes (see the one in Emilia) and as happens in the fight against drug trafficking in South America and poaching in many areas of the Amazon.

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Civilian DRONES can be a remedy to reduce the number of deaths in the shipwrecks of the boats that head from North Africa towards Maltese and Italian waters because:

• They can help monitor the boats' movements from above and with less risk for the coast guard, keeping them under control before the authorities intervene
• In the event of catastrophic incidents like the one last week off the Libyan coast, it is possible to identify survivors' bodies at sea more quickly, even at night
• With suitable cameras and sensors, it would be less difficult to locate submerged wrecks with victims inside.

This is not a solution but a small remedy for an issue that requires good politics, common sense, and less neurotic and more lucid EU policies on immigration.

But all of this takes far more than a good drone.