Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

Review of data on migrant smuggling
Obtaining reliable and comprehensive migration data in general,
especially on irregular migration and migrant smuggling, is very challenging due
to its clandestine nature. The data on migrant smuggling in the region is often
regarded as a part of the phenomenon of irregular migration. As mentioned
earlier briefly, it is widely known that the three main groups of migrants who
are subject to smuggling are the following: (a) irregular transit migrants;
(b) those who opt to live and work in the country without any valid documentation;
and (c) rejected asylum seekers who are stranded in Turkey. The data, however,
differentiating between these three groups crossing borders and using Turkey as
a transit country with the help of human smugglers is not very clear. First of all,
there is only partial statistics pertaining to nationalities, which can be roughly
estimated based on the apprehension figures of irregular migrants. Second,
limited data is collected and/or made public regarding the gender and age of
those apprehended. Third, according to public officials, there are often false
identifications of nationality and age by the migrants themselves. Ethnographic
research on the topic of migrant smuggling indicates that the earlier flows were
usually male-dominated in their early and late 20s (İçduygu and Toktaş, 2002).
More recent research and reports released by non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) on the issue point out that not only families but single women and even
unaccompanied minors are involved more and more in these migratory flows,
and they also resort to human smuggling networks (UTSAM, 2012; Ay, 2014).
Among the overall refugee population in Turkey, 75 per cent of them constitute
women and children, and female-headed households are quite common within
the Syrian refugee community with 22 per cent (CTDC, 2015:9).
As is the case in other regions, data on migrant smuggling comes from
various government agencies that are dealing with this issue particularly. Within
this context, there are four main agencies in Turkey that collects the related
data: (a) Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM); (b) Turkish
Coast Guard; (c) Turkish Gendarmerie operating in rural areas and armed
forces at land borders; and (d) Turkish National Police through the Department
of Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime. While border crossing data has been
available on a daily basis by the Turkish General Staff (TGS) since 2006, there
has been a limitation of publicized data over the last two years. More recently,
DGMM started to disseminate limited statistics on irregular migration, migrant
smuggling and human trafficking, and the Turkish Coast Guard began making
its data on sea border passages available on their websites (İçduygu and Aksel,
2015). In their annual reports, the Turkish Coast Guard, the gendarmerie and the
Turkish National Police provide limited data on irregular migration and migrant
smuggling. Currently, government agencies of Republic of Turkey neither
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6. Turkey