UNITED NATIONS — European countries are pushing for a United Nations Security Council resolution to allow their military forces to apprehend human-smuggling vessels in the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea, diplomats here said.

The draft resolution, which is to be circulated among Council members in the coming days, was being negotiated as the Continent struggled to stop people from taking increasingly desperate measures to reach Europe.

It would authorize military action on a specific route on the high seas from the coast of Libya north to Italy. The proposal is a significant step down from what the European leaders originally wanted: the Council’s blessing to conduct military operations along the Libyan coast, on land and water, to seize and disrupt the smugglers. They dropped those plans when they failed to secure Libyan consent.

The Libyan authorities recognized by the West said they did not even control the coastline from which most of the smugglers departed. Much of the coast is controlled by a rival group, and peace talks have yet to yield a unity government.