FILE PHOTO: An European Union flag flutters above the Germany's Christian Democratic Union party (CDU) headquarters after first poll results of the European Parliament elections in Berlin, Germany, May 26, 2019. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

LUXEMBOURG/BRUSSELS: A European rights watchdog said on Tuesday (Jun 18) 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.