Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

ather unknown (Carrera, 2016). In Greece, for instance, where the element of
financial benefit is not required, all drivers of all types of vehicles are potentially
criminally liable (L.4251/2014§30). In practice, arrests have been carried out
against tourist buses and taxi drivers for allowing undocumented drivers on
board (Hellenic Police, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2015d, 2015e, 2015f and 2016;
Kathimerini, 2015). Migrant smuggling charges have commonly also been pressed
against unauthorized steering of a refugee dinghy that carried the captain’s family
members (Efimerida Syntakton, 2015). Volunteer lifeguards searching for a boat
that was presumed to be in distress were also arrested (Kathimerini, 2016). In
Spain, a photojournalist was arrested for carrying undocumented migrants in
her car towards Melilla. In Germany, on the other hand, a migrant who helped
his fiancée enter the country irregularly was acquitted of the smuggling charges
(Carrera et al., 2016).
In 2016, in an effort to improve its overall legislative framework, the
European Commission launched a public consultation (European Commission,
2016). Its impact remains to be seen.
Review of migrant smuggling research
Migrant smuggling to and within Europe has been the subject of a growing
number of studies in recent years. To analyse the crime, scholars have employed
a broad spectrum of theoretical angles, analytical frames and orientations.
The variety of the approaches is reflective of the difficulty to comprehend the
complexity of the phenomenon (Baird, 2013a; Baird and van Liempt, 2016; Salt,
2000; van Liempt, 2007).
While literature of migrant smuggling in Europe is quite diverse and
vast, for the purposes of the present study, two broadly defined axes to review
contemporary contributions will be used: (a) the so-called criminological
approach, which focuses primarily on the modus operandi of the smuggling
process as an illicit business; and (b) the sociological perspective, which
investigates the social dynamics and relational dimension of migrant smuggling
(United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime) (UNODC), 2011; Baird, 2013a;
Baird and van Liempt, 2016). Given the different nuances attributed to each
term within literature, this chapter will broadly outline the key features of each
category as used here before presenting the scope and some key limitations and
strengths of each approach.
The criminological dimension, the origins of which are often accredited
to Salt and Stein’s seminal 1997 work “Migration as Business”, places migrant
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
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