EU moves to crush people-smuggling networks

The European Union is ramping up its fight against people smugglers with a new sanctions regime.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that the EU wants to "bankrupt" smugglers as part of a wider tightening of its migration policies.

Von der Leyen was addressing a conference of ministers from the bloc's 27 countries to discuss the move.

She set out the EU's aim of dismantling smuggling networks through freezing their assets and issuing travel bans.

"Our guiding principle here in the European Union is that we Europeans decide who comes to Europe," von der Leyen said.

On Monday, EU countries approved a hardened migration plan, which includes streamlined deportations and increased detentions.

Ministers meeting in Brussels agreed on the possibility to return migrants to"safe third countries" that are not their country of origin.

The plan also endorses the concept of so-called "return hubs," referring to deportation centres outside EU borders for rejected asylum-seekers.

Ministers also agreed to the formation of a "solidarity pool" to share costs of hosting refugees among member nations.

Amnesty International EU advocate on migration Olivia Sundberg Diez likened the EU's migration changes to the Trump administration's crackdown. She called on European lawmakers to block the new measures that "will inflict deep harm on migrants and the communities that welcome them."

The EU's tightening of its migration policies comes amid a wider erosion of protections for migrants.

On Wednesday, the 46 countries that make up the Council of Europe agreed to consider changes to the interpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights, the continent's main human rights treaty, in a move to further curb migrants' rights.