Report overview

Globally, migrant smuggling receives a considerable amount of media, policy and public attention, but how much do we really know about it based on sound evidence? To what extent are data and research on migrant smuggling collected, reported and undertaken throughout the world? In the project from which this report stems, we set out to answer these questions by working with researchers and analysts to review the current data and research on migrant smuggling globally. We did so for several reasons. First, migrant smuggling matters increasingly to migrants, enormously to States and is clearly critical to a great number of non-State actors, including unfortunately the smugglers and agents who operate in this illicit sector. It also matters to a range of others including non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that support migrants, international organizations working on migration, transnational crime, development and human rights, as well as the media. Enhancing our understanding of migrant smuggling improves our ability to combat inequity, exploitation and abuse by helping craft effective responses aimed at supporting safe and orderly migration policies and practices. The impacts of migrant smuggling can be many and varied but none more tragic than the deaths of people during migration, which tend to be heavily intertwined with unsafe, exploitative and unregulated migration practices often involving smuggling. The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) latest global report on migrant fatalities, for example, reported over 60,000 dead or missing migrants worldwide since 1995 (Brian and Laczko, 2016).

Related Subject(s): Drugs Crime and Terrorism