WUNRN
How does it feel to dream of a better life, beyond abject poverty, conflict and violence, and so you as a single woman/widow try every means possible, borrowing money from family and friends, to have enough to take your children with you on a boat which they tell you will take you to a better place, a better life. But, the boat seems so small for so many people. There will not be enough fresh water or food. It is winter in the Mediterranean, and the waves are high. The children cry. You are afraid, but try to appear strong. Will you make it to the European shore? And then, if you and the children survive, what will you do to create a new life?
PEOPLE SMUGGLERS ABOUND IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, ENDANGERING
THE LIVES OF WOMEN & CHILDREN WHO WISH TO MIGRATE FOR A BETTER LIFE
African Asylum Seekers Packed into a Boat - The Guardian Photo
UNODC – UN Office of Drugs & Crime - http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/human-trafficking/smuggling-of-migrants.html
The Smuggling of Migrants Protocol supplementing
the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime defines the
smuggling of migrants 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 a
permanent resident." (Article 3,Smuggling of Migrants Protocol).
In order to comply with the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol, Article 6
requires states to criminalize both smuggling of migrants and enabling of a
person to remain in a country illegally, as well as aggravating circumstances
that endanger lives or safety, or entail inhuman or degrading treatment of
migrants.
Virtually every country in the world is affected by this crime,
whether as an origin, transit or destination country for smuggled migrants by
profit-seeking criminals. Smuggled migrants are vulnerable to life-threatening
risks and exploitation; thousands of people have suffocated in containers,
perished in deserts or dehydrated at sea. Generating huge profits for the
criminals involved, migrant smuggling fuels corruption and empowers organized
crime. Learn more about the crime of migrant smuggling here .
TOOLKIT TO COMBAT SMUGGLING OF MIGRANTS
Migrant Smuggling - A Deadly Business
Currently,
data is too scattered and incomplete to paint an accurate picture of numbers of
people who are smuggled each year and the routes and methods used by those who
smuggle them. Still, available evidence reveals the following trends and
patterns:
§ Criminals are increasingly
providing smuggling services to irregular migrants to evade national border
controls, migration regulations and visa requirements. Most irregular migrants
resort to the assistance of profit-seeking smugglers. As border controls have
improved, migrants are deterred from attempting to illegally cross them
themselves and are diverted into the hands of smugglers.
§ Migrant smuggling is a
highly profitable business in which criminals enjoy low risk of detection and
punishment. As a result, the crime is becoming increasingly attractive to
criminals. Migrant smugglers are becoming more and more organized, establishing
professional networks that transcend borders and regions.
§ The modus operandi of
migrant smugglers is diverse. Highly sophisticated and expensive services rely
on document fraud or 'visa-smuggling'. Contrasted with these are low cost
methods which often pose high risks for migrants, and have lead to a dramatic
increase in loss of life in recent years.
§ Migrant smugglers
constantly change routes and modus operandi in response to changed
circumstances often at the expense of the safety of the smuggled migrants.
§
Thousands of people have lost their lives as a result of the
indifferent or even deliberate actions of migrant smugglers.
These factors highlight the need for responses to combat the crime
of migrant smuggling to be coordinated across and between regions, and
adaptable to new methods. In this regard, UNODC seeks to assist countries in
implementing the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol while
promoting a comprehesensive response to the issue of migrant smuggling.
UNODC's Response to
Migrant Smuggling
As the guardian of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized
Crime and its supplementary protocols, UNODC's primary goal
with respect to combating migrant smuggling, is to promote global adherence to
the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol and
assist States in their efforts to effectively implement it. The Smuggling of Migrants Protocol aims to:
·
Prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants
·
Protect the rights of smuggled migrants
·
Promote cooperation between states
·
In
providing technical assistance towards achieving these goals globally, UNODC's
response is focused on two working areas:
·
Assisting states in bringing their legislation in line with the
Protocol, and
·
Assisting states in developing an effective criminal justice
response to migrant smuggling
The Model Law against the Smuggling
of Migrants was developed by UNODC in response to a request by
the General Assembly to the Secretary-General to promote and assist the efforts
of States to become party to and implement the United Nations Convention
against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto. It was
developed in particular to assist States in implementing the provisions contained
in the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The
content of the Model Law was drafted through a comprehensive, collaborative
effort conducted through two Expert Group Meetings and reviewed by an expert
group of judges and prosecutors. It is currently available in Arabic, English,
French, Russian and Spanish.
UNODC in
cooperation with Interpol and Europol and with funding received from the
European Union, has elaborated basic training modules on
preventing and combating migrant smuggling. It has done this through
a series of expert group meetings (EGMs) of law enforcers and prosecutors from
around the world. The first Expert Group Meeting was held in
30th November to 2nd December 2008 in Saly, Senegal, the second EGMfrom 23rd to 25th March in Cairo,
Egypt and the third EGM was held from 22nd to 24th June
in Abuja, Nigeria.
A Toolkit to Combat Smuggling of
Migrants has been designed to assist countries to implement the
Smuggling of Migrants Protocol. Specifically, the Toolkit is intended to
provide guidance, showcase promising practices and recommend resources in
thematic areas addressed in the separate tools.The promising practices and recommended
resources included in this Toolkit by no means comprise an exhaustive
collection of successful, creative and innovative response to addressing
migrant smuggling. However, in light of the urgent need for cooperative
response to the phenomenon, examples have been included with the intention both
of commending such initiatives and of demonstrating the range of resources
available to assist users in undertaking the anti-smuggling efforts that may
feature in the next edition of this Toolkit.
UNODC is supporting States in West and North Africa in
implementing the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol and
strengthening their criminal justice systems, through its Impact Programme.
UNODC holds Training Workshops for Prosecutors on Investigating
and Prosecuting Migrant Smuggling.
UNODC is
currently developing and implementing a number of new projects to assess and
counter the various threats posed by human smuggling. To do so effectively, and
to learn from already existing research on migrant smuggling for current and
future programme design, it is imperative to gain an overview of the current
state of knowledge on the subject by consolidating the existing literature on
the subject in one comprehensive and informative background document. This has
been done through The Global Review and Annotated
Bibliography of Recent Publications on Smuggling of Migrants (Global Review).
The publication Smuggling of migrants into, through
and from North Africa: A thematic review and annotated bibliography of recent
publications is the second in a series of unique publications
produced by UNODC. Recognizing, however, that irregular migration and smuggling
flows are transnational in nature, the review goes beyond North Africa, to also
cover sub- Saharan African and European countries affected along the various
smuggling routes. The aim of the review is twofold: to describe major findings
on smuggling of migrants; into, through and from North Africa, and to highlight
the need for further research on specific issues that have not yet been studied.