Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

Conclusion and ways forward
When it comes to evaluating the understanding of migrant smuggling in
Europe, the present study confirms some important knowledge gaps and also
draws attention to new emerging ones.
There is wide agreement among scholars that there is a general lack
of data that contemporary research and data collection methods have thus
far been unable to overcome. The scale of the phenomenon, the specific
modalities of intra-European movement, its interconnection with other forms
of crime, the involvement of women, the scale of the smuggling industry and
its interconnection with other forms of crime and in particular trafficking in
human beings are some of the established factual knowledge gaps (UNODC,
2011; Europol, 2016; Baird, 2013a). The impact of the recent Syrian crisis and
the European response to an apparent incessantly growing threat has opened
however new strands of thought.
Irregular child migration has been known to take place in Europe for
several years now (European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, 2011). Over
the past few years, a growing number of children have been travelling alone.
There is also strong speculation that many children are sent by their parents
or smugglers, on their own or with adults they are not related to, in order to
make it possible for the rest of the family to follow later by taking advantage of
reunification schemes. However, in 2016, Europol raised the alert on the fate of
around 10,000 children that had gone missing, 5,000 of whom were estimated
to have disappeared in Italy alone and 1,000 in Sweden (Townsend, 2016).
However, only few studies have explored the prevalence of minors also within
the smuggling process. Among the most informing contemporary contributions
in tracing the profile of smuggled children but also providing insights in their
decision-making process has been a 2005 study conducted by Derluyn and
Broekaert, on the basis of 1,093 data files of minors intercepted in Zeebruge,
one of the main Belgian ports. The children, primarily teenagers from Asian and
Eastern European countries, were transiting to reunite with family members,
find work or escape a dire situation at home (Derluyn and Broekart, 2005; Baird,
2013a). Nonetheless, pertinent questions both in terms of facts and doctrinal
implications remain unanswered. For instance, little is known about the extent
of their exploitation, the degree in which they act themselves as smugglers or
even guardians of other minors. Notions of agency, coercion and victimization in
the context of migrants smuggling become particularly complex when reviewed
in light of childhood (Baird, 2013a).
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
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