Director-General/Executive Director
Distinguished panellists,
Excellencies,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am very pleased to be here to celebrate UNODC’s valuable and fruitful partnership with the European Union against the smuggling of migrants over the past 15 years.
Migrant smuggling is a vast criminal enterprise that preys on hope and fear, generating up to 7 billion dollars of illicit revenue every year by exploiting vulnerable people looking for a better life.
The smuggled migrants risk losing their lives or being subjected to human trafficking and exploitation, as well as gender-based violence.
And the smugglers use corruption and money-laundering to reap their illicit profits and sustain their criminal networks.
This transnational threat requires joint and concerted action, and I am proud to say that the EU has been a steadfast partner against migrant smuggling, from political engagement and policy exchange to investing in important technical cooperation programmes.
I am also pleased to see on our panel today representatives from Egypt and Pakistan, two important partners for UNODC and two countries that have experienced the challenges associated with migrant smuggling first-hand.
Excellencies,
As we celebrate our partnership, I want to touch upon our successes, and the challenging road ahead.
The adoption of the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and its Protocols against migrant smuggling and human trafficking, established a crucial normative framework that UNODC has been helping countries implement for over two decades.
We train criminal justice practitioners to identify, investigate, and prosecute migrant smuggling and human trafficking, provide legislative support, and bring countries together for more effective cooperation.
Only last year, UNODC supported more than 20 countries in the Global South to address migrant smuggling along specific routes, leading to joint investigations and direct cooperation between countries of origin and transit on specific cases.
And a lot of our most impactful work would not have been possible without the support and funding of the EU.
One prominent example is our project to dismantle trafficking and smuggling networks in North Africa, reaching almost 1,300 criminal justice and law enforcement actors.
This work extends to Egypt, where we have provided software and equipment to the government to strengthen law enforcement responses, with the support of the EU Trust Fund.
Another prominent example of the EU’s support is the GLOACT programme which covers projects in Afghanistan, Iraq, and several countries in Central Asia and South Asia.
This programme includes Pakistan, where we have worked closely with the government to provide training on intelligence-led investigations. Notably, our support enabled a successful conviction relating to the 2023 boat tragedy, in which more than 300 Pakistani migrants lost their lives off the coast of Greece.
Excellencies,
Our work together has helped protect people, disrupt smuggling operations, and save lives.
But migrant smuggling has proven to be an adaptable threat, and today the problem is growing.
Our analysis shows that in 2023, smugglers transported more than 290,000 migrants from North Africa to Europe. The majority of them, more than 220,000, were smuggled along the Central Mediterranean route, a staggering increase of 58 per cent over the previous year.
Last year was also the deadliest year on record for migrants, recording nearly 8,600 lives lost on migration routes worldwide, including more than 3,100 deaths along the Mediterranean corridor.
And too many of the crimes committed against migrants on these routes remain unpunished.
We need to keep improving our responses and partnerships, to disrupt and dismantle agile criminal networks and go after their profits.
And we need to resolve root causes, such as poverty, lack of opportunities and lack of livelihoods, people leave due to hopelessness and joblessness; we need to improve safe and regular pathways to migration; and we need to change attitudes towards migrants to see them as an asset.
I want to welcome the recent steps taken by the EU, from adopting a Pact on Asylum and Migration to revising the EU’s Directive on Human Trafficking.
I also welcome the EU Commission’s proposal to reform the Union’s legal framework against migrant smuggling, and commend them for inviting UNODC’s comments in this process.
For our part, UNODC is also stepping up.
I just returned from Venice, where I briefed G7 Member States on this criminal landscape and the need to mobilize collective action and responses.
Last month, we launched a new global programme called “Action against Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling”, to consolidate our work against these crimes, placing a heavier emphasis on links with other forms of organized crime, as well as on victim support and South-South cooperation.
We already have strong experience supporting South-South cooperation through programmes like GLOACT and STARSOM, which have facilitated direct communication and information exchange between countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and we aim to build on these successes.
And we are expanding our work in key countries, such as in Libya, where we are supporting maritime operations to tackle migrant smuggling and human trafficking while preserving human rights.
Ladies and gentlemen,
When I visited Brussels last year, I sensed a strong appreciation for the partnership between UNODC and the EU, including on the issue of migrant smuggling.
I am committed to building on this partnership, hand in hand with the EU and with partner countries.
Together we can protect the rights of migrants, detect and help victims of trafficking, and end the lucrative criminal business of migrant smuggling.
Thank you.