The Bow Group, the UK’s oldest conservative think-tank, today calls on European leaders to adopt the Australian maritime immigration policy of stopping the boats that bring thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean each week.

A new research paper by highlights the humanitarian crisis and looks to Australia for the only realistic and humane way to stop migrants putting their lives in danger.

The paper, entitled ‘Stop the Boats’, calls for European Union-operated Migration Processing Centres (MPCs) to be set up in Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia.

The paper also argues for any migrant boats in the Mediterranean to be rescued or redirected to the MPCs, where migrants can be identified and applications for political asylum and other forms of legal migration into European nations can be considered.

Nic Conner, the paper’s author and The Bow Group’s Social and Home Affair Research Fellow said:

“The migrants have to survive a desert death march before making it to the sea. Many are raped and tortured, and all risk death at many stages of the journey to Europe.”

“As a civilised nation, we have a moral duty to stop the exportation by the traffickers of the migrants”

We need to make clear migrants, If you want to come to Europe and start a new life, do it legally without the mortal risk”.

Bow Group Chairman Ben Harris-Quinney said:

"The United Kingdom has rejected the EU's proposal to distribute quotas of migrants throughout Europe, and rightly so, but we haven't yet identified a realistic way to deal with the crisis, which is placing a huge burden on the nations of Southern Europe. Our proposal doesn't simply dismiss the EU proposal, it presents a workable alternative."

Bow Group Research Secretary Peter Smith said:

“We need to do anything that encourages people to not get on these boats. That is why I call on the British Government to take that lead and establish Migration Processing Centres in either Morocco, Algeria or Tunisia”

“The only realistic way to stop migrants putting their lives in danger is to by stopping the boats”.

“The problem with the debate on the Mediterranean crises is that no one is calling for the most realistic way to tackle the problem: stopping the boats. This is due to the fear that the media will lead stories of left-wing advocate groups; posing as refugee or asylum charities, calling them racist whilst they use this humanitarian crises as a way to lobby for open borders’.

“Stop the boats” proposes:

That the EU and other European nations hold talks with Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia in order to establish Migration Processing Centres (MPCs).

That the MPCs be run and operated by EU nations.

To offer financial aid to any host nation of MPCs.

To encourage the host nation to adopt skilled migrants.

To allow migrants who wish to apply for asylum to have two attempts at applying from an MPC to two EU nations.

To allow migrants who wish to enter an EU nation legally to apply for the appropriate visas at an MPC.

To return home any migrant who fails in their application for asylum or a visa.

To stop any migrant boats crossing the Mediterranean, with EU nations being responsible for rescuing and towing the migrant boats to the nearest MPC in North Africa.

To create a limited and capped boat-buying scheme.

To increase aid and anti-corruption efforts across the migrants nations of origin.

Key facts from “Stop the boats”