Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

elsewhere in the region appears to be more problematic for both migrants and
States. Data collection is heavily skewed towards law enforcement, with little
information available on the experiences of smuggled migrants, including their
abuse and exploitation. Available information provides little insight into how
national policies and regional cooperation frameworks have or have not worked
in relation to specific incidents of migrant smuggling.
Advancing regional understanding of migrant smuggling and supporting
multifaceted evidence-based policy will require these and other shortcomings
to be addressed. Priorities identified by the authors of this chapter include the
following:
• A greater focus on perspectives of smuggling from transit and
country of origin, including on the role of corruption in facilitating
movement and shaping the experiences of smuggled migrants.
This will require improved support for the involvement of national
researchers and institutions in academic and applied research.
• More attention to the experiences of smuggled migrants including
their experiences of abuse and exploitation.
• Greater attention to linking knowledge about the mechanics of
migrant smuggling (what is happening, to whom and with what
consequences) with knowledge of migrant smuggling policy and
practice with a view to understanding how one impacts the other.
This will require closer links between States in the region and
researchers from academia and international organizations.
• Broader and more consistent use of tools such as the UNODC
VRS-MSRC. Ongoing monitoring of the system’s functioning
will be important to ensure it continues to meet the needs of
participating States and attracts the participation of States not
currently involved.
• Case-based / situational research and analysis aimed at
securing information and insight into national and regional
capacity to respond to major smuggling-related events. Recent
commitments by Bali Process leaders to undertake a review
of the regional response to the May 2015 “irregular migration
events in the Andaman Sea” in order to share lessons and develop
recommendations aimed at improving contingency planning is an
important step forward in this regard. 102
102
See tenth ad Hoc Group (AHG) Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking
in Persons and Related Transnational Crime (Bali Process) held in Bangkok on 2 February 2016, Co-Chairs’
Final Statement, para. 11.
232
9. South-East Asia and Australia