The European Commission will make a controversial proposal on Thursday that will require EU member-states to take in refugees under a quota scheme. The UN estimates that 60,000 people have already tried to cross the Mediterranean this year.
The EC's migration policy will also propose organizing legal means for migrants to come to Europe so they do not turn to traffickers. However, it will need to be agreed by EU states, BBC reported.
European leaders will discuss the proposals at a summit at the end of June.
Migrants are being driven to make the journey by "horrific abuse" in Libya, according to the Amnesty International. More than 1,800 migrants have died this year in the Mediterranean, a 20-fold increase on the same period in 2014.
The measures proposed by the EC are the latest in a series of steps designed to stop migrants drowning in the Mediterranean.
More than 200,000 migrants fleeing conflict or poverty from countries such as Syria, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia are estimated to have crossed the Mediterranean last year, with thousands dying making the journey.
Quotas would be determined using a number of factors, including a country's population, economic indicators and the number of asylum seekers previously accepted.
