Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

Figure 4.2: Irregular arrivals on the Italian coast by country of departure, 2012–2015
Source: Italian Ministry of Interior. Available from www.magistraturademocratica.it/mdem/upy/
farticolo/1.DATI%20IMMIGRAZIONE%20MIN.%20INTERNO%202014-2015.pdf
Note: The year 2013 also saw 7 arrivals from Morocco and 8 arrivals from Montenegro.
In terms of data collection on smuggling specifically, GITOC has developed
an initiative called the Smuggling Monitor, which monitors changes in smuggling
networks. 19 More specifically, it keeps track of the cost of being smuggled,
incidences of violence against migrants (or associated with migration), and the
challenges of entry into the smuggling market. By focusing on these indicators, it
aims to develop a better understanding of how smuggling networks and markets
are functioning and ultimately, to measure the extent to which criminality is
involved. That is, it focuses on the criminal aspects of smuggling rather than the
migration aspects or drivers.
The Smuggling Monitor is not a traditional data collection exercise in
that it does not aim to quantify the smuggling market or collect figures or data
points. Rather, it brings together a number of qualitative information sources,
including primary qualitative interviews but also secondary literature and media
articles and pieces and continually adds to its number of sources. In this way, it
formalizes and systematizes qualitative information.
19
See www.globalinitiative.net
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4. North Africa