Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

members of society who are able to identify smuggling activities. In doing so,
researchers will begin to map out routes and predict potential new routes based
on existing evidence on smuggler behaviour. This will require a psychosocial
approach to understanding the process, relations, trade-offs of migrant
smuggling from smuggler and smuggled migrant viewpoints.
Organizations will benefit from partnerships between international and
national organizations with an interest in migrant smuggling that can collect,
analyse and report research in this area. By developing a data management
platform, it will create a focal reporting point but also allows its members to
design the appropriate tools to capture migrant smuggling data, as well as
discuss a range of innovative strategies of collecting data. Innovation is the key
to improving knowledge on migrant smuggling in the region, and the RMMS
4Mi is a step in the right direction but a partial one only, as smuggling remains
a subtopic of other research efforts. Dedicated research into smuggling is a
main research gap in the region, and needs to be assessed through concerted
partnerships at a time when political and security changes in Burundi, Somalia
and Yemen remind us once again of the rise of smuggling as a means to cope
with shocks.
References
Barasa, N. and L. Fernandez
2015 Kenya’s implementation of the Smuggling Protocol in response to
the irregular movement of migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia. Law,
Democracy and Development, 19(1):29–64.
Brian, T. and F. Laczko (eds.)
2014 Fatal Journeys. Tracking Lives Lost During Migration. International
Organization for Migration (IOM), Geneva.
Carling, J., A.T. Gallagher and C. Horwood
2015 Beyond Definitions: Global migration and the Smuggling-Trafficking
Nexus, Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS) Discussion
Paper 2. RMMS, Nairobi.
De Bode, L.
2015 Somali refugees decry Kenya’s demand that the UN relocate their
camp. Al Jazeera, 13 April. Available from: http://america.aljazeera.
com/articles/2015/4/13/somali-refugees-decry-kenya-demandthat-the-un-relocate-their-camp.html
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
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