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.