Current_Trends_and_Related_Challenges_web

Current Trends and Challenges
6.6 Profile of migrant smugglers
Persons from a range of backgrounds, nationalities
and age groups participate in or are associated
with the many activities involved in the smuggling
of migrants. Such persons may occupy one or
more of the diverse roles, which are typically part
of the smuggling process, ranging from recruiters,
transporters, accommodation providers,
facilitators and enforcers to organizers and
financiers. The myriad routes and methods used
to smuggle migrants within, from and into Asia is
also reflective of the wide spectrum of individuals
involved.
In short, the smuggling of migrants attracts
a diverse range of opportunists who seek to
obtain financial or material benefits from their
involvement. Some individuals do so on a
continuing basis while others only participate in
an ad hoc manner. Many of the known smugglers
are young men, which is mostly reflective of the
physical nature of smuggling activities and the
status of men in some societies. The involvement
of women in the smuggling of migrants has,
however, been noted in several locations and
circumstances, especially in situations in which
they pose as a spouse or parent of a migrant,
although there are also known cases in which
women occupied senior roles in larger smuggling
networks.
The more sophisticated, long-distance smuggling
operations are typically overseen by organizers who
are nationals of the same country as the migrants
they smuggle. In some cases, these are individuals
who are based in and make arrangements from
the country of origin; but it appears to be more
common that multiple organizers are placed along
the main smuggling routes. Some of the organizers
were once smuggled migrants who either settled
or maybe naturalized in the destination country or
who remained in or returned to one of the transit
points.
By contrast, individuals involved in carrying out
smuggling operations — for example, leading a
migrant across a border or harbouring a migrant
in a shelter — are, for the most part, nationals or
residents of the country in which they operate and
speak the local language and know local areas.
This enables them to work as drivers or couriers
or assist in arranging other transportation or
accommodation. In countries of origin, they may
act as recruiters who connect would-be migrants
with those involved in arranging smuggling
ventures.
The available literature provides no evidence to
suggest that the average persons involved in the
smuggling of migrants are ‘routine criminals’
with a history of prior or parallel involvement
into other non-migrant smuggling-related crimes.
Such cases of persons seem to be infrequent. The
available evidence suggests that migrants are not
routinely smuggled with other contraband, such
as drugs or weapons.
6.7 Organizational features of smuggling
networks
Generalizations about the organization
and structure of the groups involved in the
smuggling of migrants in Asia are difficult to
make. Nonetheless, it seems that assumptions
about transnational, mafia-style smuggling
organizations are not supported by the available
literature and data. In general, smugglers are not
organized in structured, hierarchical syndicates
with different levels of seniority, oversight and
impunity. Instead, most sources reveal that the
organization of migrant smugglers can best be
described as decentralized networks that connect
groups and individuals in origin, transit and
destination countries. Some of these networks
have operated for considerable periods of time;
but many elements of these networks are only
loosely connected and cooperate in the smuggling
of migrants only if and when opportunities arise.
In general, smuggling ventures over short
distances and across single borders neither require
nor involve sophisticated migrant smuggling
methods, which make it unnecessary to establish
complex criminal enterprises to facilitate. Where
smuggling occurs over greater distances and
involves multiple border crossings, it appears to
be common that a chain of ‘stage coordinators’
oversee individual legs of the smuggling ventures,
interact with each other and work with local
groups in the countries of transit and destination.
This network model seems to adequately describe
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