Current_Trends_and_Related_Challenges_web

Migrant Smuggling in Asia
of better employment opportunities and higher
wages to support themselves and their families.
Their choice of destination is often influenced by
the perceived or actual demand for labour and the
availability of jobs. Labour migration of unskilled
and low-skilled workers generally tends to cover
shorter distances and occur within neighbouring
countries.
Many migrants who are drawn to employment
opportunities abroad and employ smuggling
services do so because regular avenues for
labour migration are non-existent or, if they do
exist, are expensive, cumbersome, slow and
ineffective. The characteristics of smuggling of
migrants in Asia indicate that many migrants use
the services offered by smugglers because they
are cheaper, faster and more effective. Smugglers
often help migrants to secure employment and
accommodation in the destination country.
Gender is another factor in shaping irregular
migration. In some parts of Asia, women do not
have the same access to education and the same
opportunities to find employment as men. In
some countries, legal avenues of migration also
are not open to women.
Political considerations and the quest to find
protection and safety are typically inseparable
from the pursuit of employment opportunities
and other economic considerations. In some
Asian countries, political factors, such as
persecution, violent conflict, discrimination and
a lack of personal security and law and order,
constitute the main reasons why people migrate,
often facilitated by smugglers. In some countries,
political pull factors are important for only some
communities and ethnic or religious groups but
are of little or no significance to many others.
In this context, asylum- and migration-related
policies can be both a pull factor and a deterrent
for irregular migration and can influence routes,
methods and destinations of migrant smuggling.
In some parts of Asia, environmental factors, such
as earthquakes, flooding and storms, frequently
cause large-scale internal displacements that lead
to irregular migration. These natural disasters
have serious economic consequences, not just for
local communities where buildings, businesses
and infrastructure are destroyed or damaged
but also for national economies, which, in turn,
can affect job opportunities, poverty and social
services. A growing body of literature warns of
the immediate and long-term effects of climate
change and rising sea levels that will impact many
coastal areas, especially in South Asia. These
factors are likely to cause further displacement
at yet unpredictable levels, which can result in
further irregular migration.
Other important factors that influence irregular
migration and migrant smuggling are previous
migration by relatives and friends, historical
and cultural ties between countries of origin
and destination, geography, trade routes and
the existence of overseas diaspora. Access to
knowledge and networks of irregular migration
can motivate people to migrate irregularly.
It is for this variety of reasons that facilitated
irregular migration — migrant smuggling — does
not, or does not always, follow the shortest,
most economical and perhaps most obvious
routes. The circuitous nature of many routes also
may be explained by the step-by-step nature of
some smuggling ventures, where migrants may
choose whichever path available if and when
opportunities for onward migration arise.
6.3 Profile of smuggled migrants
Some variations aside, most smuggled migrants
are young adults. In general, young people tend
to be more mobile, more capable of coping with
the complications, dangers and risks associated
with the smuggling ventures and more flexible
to adjust to the living and working conditions in
the destination countries. In many cases, families
choose one or more of their children, usually
young adults, to be smuggled abroad so that they
can become established in a destination country,
support remaining relatives with remittances and
facilitate and sometimes finance later migration
of other relatives.
Much of the irregular migration, including
the smuggling of migrants, within Asia is for
the prospective employment of unskilled and
low-skilled workers who take up positions in
manufacturing, agriculture and construction in a
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