![]() Migrant smuggling is a business that could be worth as much as USD 10 billion or more per year, given that routes from West, East and North Africa to Europe, and South America to North America generate approximately USD 6.75 billion a year (Laczko, F. As for movements from North Africa to Europe, over 181,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy in 2016, the majority of whom are believed to have used smuggling services ( IOM, 2017). Recent surveys of policy concerns show that governments are increasingly focusing on irregular migration, including migrant smuggling ( UN, 2014).ĭata for specific migration corridors provides an indication of the scale of migrant smuggling. In terms of regional trends, there are an estimated 3 million irregular entries into the United States each year, most of which involve smuggling ( UNODC, 2016). This estimate is believed to have since increased ( UNODC, 2011). According to UNDP estimates, there were about 50 million irregular international migrants in the world a decade ago ( 2009), but this figure most likely includes many migrants who entered a country legally and overstayed, so it is not a good indicator of migrant smuggling. It is also important to note that human trafficking generally is a crime against an individual, whereas smuggling is a crime against the state ( ICAT, 2016).ĭue to its clandestine nature, there is no reliable global statistic on the number of migrants who are smuggled each year. Smuggling and trafficking may occur on the same routes and smuggling can lead to trafficking, making it difficult to discern one from the other. In practice, it may be hard to establish the boundary between smuggling and trafficking, as elements of exploitation and abuse may emerge during transit or at destination, even in the presence of initial consensus on the part of the migrant. Smuggling must be consensual and it must be transnational, as human trafficking may also occur within a country’s territory. Source: IOM, visualization MINDS/ČTK, 2017Īccording to the UN Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, migrant smuggling is defined as “the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or permanent resident” ( UNODC, 2000).Īlthough the terms are often confused, the smuggling of migrants is not the same as human trafficking. An element of exploitation is required in trafficking but not in smuggling. However, the extent to which these countries have implemented their obligations remains difficult to determine. A useful indicator on migrant smuggling and the concern States have over the practice is the number of countries that have ratified the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementary protocol, the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The little data that do exist on smuggling are retrieved from arrivals numbers, such as those across the Mediterranean, or are based on the number of migrants apprehended at a border ( Laczko and McAuliffe, 2016). Official statistics on migrant smuggling are limited as many countries do not collect or publish such data. Data on migrant smuggling allow policymakers to better understand the phenomena as well as to develop policies that promote safe and orderly migration.ĭata on smuggling are scarce, and there is no annual global report on migrant smuggling trends. Migrant smuggling refers to the movement of persons across international borders for financial benefit.
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