Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

Financial motives are central to the business model concept proposed
by Salt and Stein (1997), and are consistent with the final formulation of the
Protocol. This has the effect of excluding those who assist people to gain illegal
entry into a country without financially (or materially) benefitting. Indeed,
some argue that a broader definition of smuggling incorporating those who
operate without personal gain is required to adequately encompass refugee
smuggling (Doomernik, 2001; van Liempt and Doomernik, 2006). Rather than a
law enforcement framing or the business model concept, this broader definition
also incorporates the altruistic smuggler who helps people to safety (Salt and
Hogarth, 2000). The “altruistic” smuggler is a common theme in the literature,
especially in so far as it relates to the smuggling of asylum seekers and refugees.
Discussion of the nexus between smuggling and forced displacement features in
several chapters of this report. There also exists an uneasy tension conceptually
when the smuggler acts to profit from forced migrants. As Khalid Koser notes
(2011:258):
Helping people escape violence can be considered an invaluable service for
which it is justifiable to charge a fee. From another perspective, charging
a fee might be viewed as exploiting the situation of a desperate person.
Broadly then, migrant smuggling can be conceptualized in a variety of
ways, including:
• Transnational criminal definition of smuggling for financial or other
material benefit – this appears to be a commonly understood
definition, and one that applies in international law as per the
Protocol;
• Altruistic smuggling that does not involve gaining financially or in
other ways, and may be construed or interpreted as a manifestation
of irregular migration social processes;
• Smuggling for humanitarian reasons, including of refugees, which
may or may not involve financial or material gain; and
• “Self-smuggling”, whereby migrants smuggle themselves in order
to enter a country without prior permission as a stowaway, for
example, on a vessel or aircraft.
These broad definitions, however, are not necessarily discrete and may
overlap making defining migrant smuggling challenging. Further, regional
or national legislation may differ, thereby rendering direct country-level
comparisons on aspects (such as arrests and prosecutions) difficult. The legal
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
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