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A new research brief from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) assesses the knowledge base on smuggling of migrants globally and identifies general trends, key findings and policy implications. The Research Brief is available in Arabic, English, French and Spanish. Below, find some key findings summarized.
Smuggling operations range from individual actors and loose networks all the way to highly organized and sophisticated organized crime groups – and everything in between.
Most of the people arrested and prosecuted for migrant smuggling are low-level operators or migrants who are coerced or who carry out activities in return for discounted or free facilitation of their journeys. Higher-level figures, meanwhile, are much more difficult to apprehend and enjoy some level of impunity.
Smugglers often belong to the same nationality and/or ethnic group as the people they smuggle or are nationals or permanent residents of the transit or destination countries along the smuggling route.
Estimates of the global financial volume of the migrant smuggling criminal market put it at billions of dollars per year. Some sub-estimates are also available for specific routes. However, little information is available on costs of operation for smuggling, net profits and money laundering. Further analysis is needed to determine the illicit financial flows (IFFs) associated with smuggling of migrants.
Smuggling fees vary widely, between under US$20 and over $15,000, depending on the nationality or ethnicity and economic status of the smuggled person, the route taken, the mode of smuggling (land, sea, air or a combination), demand, levels of enforcement to prevent irregular entry and criminal justice responses to combat smuggling offences, security risks, corruption and other factors.
Cash transactions are the most common modality used to pay smuggling fees. Hawala (a trust-based value transfer service used across the globe) and other similar, difficult to trace systems are also frequently used.
The extent of the use of online platforms by smugglers to identify clients, by migrants to identify smugglers, and by smugglers and migrants to maintain communication, varies between different regions and routes and is an area that requires further research. Recent research indicates the presence of scams and other types of fraud in the context of smuggling-related contentonline.
Migrant smuggling, as a transnational crime that functions as a service industry, is affected by fluctuations in supply and demand. While supply represents the willingness and availability of smuggling perpetrators, demand is driven by forced displacement and mobility, as well as the absence of regular, independent and safe migration options.
There are still significant data gaps on smuggling of migrants by air and related document fraud, financial aspects, use of digital tools and platforms, the involvement of transnational organized crime groups and their modus operandi and linkages with other crimes.
Gaps also persist in research on women’s involvement in smuggling, the smuggling of refugees, and the volume of research on certain smuggling routes from East and Horn of Africa to the Arabian Gulf and to southern Africa, and in Central, West and South Asia.
There is also little evidence on corruption and impunity, and on the impact of counter-smuggling responses on smuggling trends, crime proceeds, organized crime involvement or risks for smuggled people.
Find several considerations for how to improve the knowledge base on smuggling of migrants and more in the Research Brief.
