Objective 9 of the Global Compact for Migration enjoins States to prevent and counter the smuggling of migrants through strengthening international cooperation. Effectively realizing this commitment requires increasing the capacity to collect, analyse and share data on migrant smuggling in order to proactively respond to a rapidly changing phenomenon with evidence-based policies and intelligence-led predictive modelling.

For general guidance on how to use data, research and analysis to develop evidence-based migration policies, see Chapter Stage 2: Data, research and analysis for policymaking.

Needs for effective data collection, research and analysis on smuggling of migrants

Responding effectively to smuggling requires that information be gathered and shared on:

  • The identities and modus operandi of criminal organizations:
    • Types of documents used;
    • Issuing countries and authorities;
    • Types of fraud (identity or document);
    • Age, gender add social background of smuggled migrants.
  • Routes, embarkation points, hubs and destination points, or intended destination points.
  • Carriers and means of transportation used by criminal groups.
  • Links between migrant smuggling and trafficking in persons, corruption and other associated crimes.
  • Financial transactions, pricing and methods.
  • The factors that shape the migrant smuggling industry, including its root causes.
  • Practices in place to combat the smuggling of migrants.

Research is also required on the economic and social factors that underpin smuggling processes.

Good Practice
Emerging priorities in research on migrant smuggling
  • Strengthen understanding of the dynamics linking irregular migration and migrant smuggling, in order to understand the impact migration policies have on migrant smuggling.
  • Research how migration policy impacts migrant smuggling, including impact on the migrants (violence, abuse and exploitation) and irregular flows (including scale, diversity, geography and profiles of migrants).
Source

Source: IOM, 2017.

Collecting, managing and sharing migrant smuggling data

Data collection, analysis and research on smuggling of migrants remain at their infancy. To build a solid international body of knowledge to support policy making in the area of smuggling of migrants, there is a need to improve data collection systems at the national, regional and international levels. (UNODC, 2018b). 

When States conflate irregular migration flows with migrants smuggling flows, or mistake merely facilitating or attempting irregular migration with the serious crime of migrant smuggling, or even confuse human trafficking with migrant smuggling, an inaccurate picture of migrant smuggling emerges. Some States consider the non-profit facilitation of irregular migration to be smuggling of migrants, while others align their approach with the United Nations Smuggling of Migrants Protocol, explicitly including the “financial or other material benefit element” in their definition of migrant smuggling (UNODC, 2017).

Irregular migration, itself, is a term undefined in international law. It remains inconsistently understood, especially because people fall into and out of irregularity. Different methods of estimating numbers, as well as discrepancies in how data elements are defined, make data incomparable across agencies. The more agencies and departments involved in collecting data, the higher the risk of data misinterpretation.

Most of the existing research on migrant smuggling reflects the interests and perspectives of destination countries. This is because destination countries have stronger funding and institutional capacity, compared to the funding and capacity of origin and transit countries. Additionally, smuggling receives limited attention and funding compared to trafficking in persons. There is insufficient capacity to monitor migrant smuggling in a way that can inform responses and increase preparedness for mass movements. There are also insufficient government statistics on migrant smuggling, and many governments are understandably reluctant to share sensitive data with researchers.

Example
Data collection on smuggling by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

In its Global Study of Smuggling of Migrants, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) gave priority to data from government institutions, including national statistics officers, law enforcement authorities, migration departments and border guards, where available (UNODC, 2018b: 21–22). In many areas, no specific information was available. In other areas, varied country practices regarding criminalization, enforcement and reporting meant that much of the information related to different crimes collected by different agencies at different times.

The covert and rapidly changing nature of smuggling is in stark contrast to the slow responses of States and international organizations, in terms of their capacity to adapt. As both irregular migration and the smuggling of migrants are hidden phenomena, they are inherently difficult to measure. Although migrants themselves are a key source of information, law enforcement often do not consider them as such, and migrants themselves can be reticent in providing information about their smugglers.

Example
The IOM Document Examination Support Center (DESC)

The IOM Document Examination Support Center (DESC) initiative collects data on document and identity fraud, and intercepted smuggling cases in the Asia-Pacific region. DESC allows States to capture the latest trends on this offence, which helps in counter-smuggling investigations.

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