Watchdog calls on EU to save sea migrants as bloc emphasizes control of borders

A European rights watchdog said on Tuesday that the European Union was violating international law with its increasingly restrictive stance on migration and should step up sea rescues - an element that is not part of the bloc's new five-year action plan.
The EU has become tougher on immigration since a 2015 spike in Mediterranean arrivals caught it by surprise, stretching social and security resources and feeding support for right-wing and euroskeptic forces across the bloc.

The EU has since tightened its external borders and asylum laws, as well as giving aid to non-EU states on the eastern and southern rim of the Mediterranean to help them contain migration to Europe.
The bloc's 28 national leaders are set to restate their commitment to these policies in a new "Strategic Agenda for 2019-2024", a document they are due to endorse at a summit in Brussels on Thursday...