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(CNN) The European Union, facing a rising tide of migrants, asked the United Nations on Monday to authorize military action to destroy boats used to smuggle people from Africa to Europe.

Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign policy chief, outlined for the U.N. Security Council the EU's plan to destroy boats used by smugglers as long as the boats are known to be empty.

The boats are used to transport people who are bent on escaping violence, or desperate for a better life, from North Africa primarily to Italy -- which happens to be Mogherini's home country.

Many of the migrants are from sub-Saharan Africa and Syria, or are foreign workers who have lost their livelihoods. They know that traffickers can take them to Europe from Libyan shores.

But many die at sea. More than 3,400 migrants died in 2014, according to estimates from the U.N refugee agency. And nearly 2,000 have lost their lives already this year, the agency estimates.

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