ICMPD-Review-2015
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<strong>ICMPD</strong> Annual Report <strong>2015</strong><br />
12<br />
In Focus <strong>2015</strong><br />
Smuggling of Migrants<br />
Policies, Programmes, and<br />
Operational Responses<br />
No matter the political stance of countries of origin,<br />
transit, or destination of irregular migration, policymakers<br />
and officials involved in migration issues must<br />
be provided an accurate and up-to-date picture of<br />
how migrant smuggling is operating. This is especially<br />
relevant when pictures of a drowned Syrian child<br />
washed up on a beach or a lorry filled with the corpses<br />
of seventy-one migrants is displayed on news<br />
media throughout the world. People want answers<br />
as to why irregular migration has become so dangerous;<br />
why it is taking such a human toll, and what can<br />
be done to better secure and regulate migrant flows<br />
while engendering safety for those involved.<br />
Government officials also need precise information<br />
for the enactment of more effective legislation and<br />
improvement of law enforcement. In a time when<br />
both national and EU officials are overwhelmed with<br />
a much-increased flow of irregular migration due to<br />
civil and economic strife in countries of origin, those<br />
who are the most informed are best positioned to<br />
create lasting and effective policy.<br />
In <strong>2015</strong>, <strong>ICMPD</strong> was an integral part of the six-month<br />
‘Study on smuggling of migrants – characteristics,<br />
responses and cooperation with third countries’ (EC,<br />
DG Migration & Home Affairs (<strong>2015</strong>)). The consortium,<br />
which was led by Optimity Advisors and also included<br />
ECRE as a partner, collected information on irregular<br />
migration routes, migrant smuggling networks, the<br />
effects of national deterrent measures, the increased<br />
risks taken by migrants, and essentially how migrant<br />
smuggling is practiced now. During the course of the<br />
study, <strong>ICMPD</strong> researchers found that much of the<br />
conventional wisdom on migrant smuggling is actually<br />
out-dated and/or based on misperceptions.<br />
They dis cov ered this through performing interviews<br />
with mi grants in their arrival country, migrants in<br />
transit, and in countries of departure. They also<br />
collected data from members of migrant smuggling<br />
networks who told researchers their stories. The<br />
culminating report sheds light on current migrant<br />
smuggling pro cesses as well as how these networks<br />
are affected by deter rence measures, and reveals<br />
reasons why irregular migration has become more<br />
dangerous for part i cipants.
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