Migrant Smuggling Data and Research

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NORTH AFRICA
Arezo Malakooti
Introduction
This chapter provides an overview of migrant smuggling in North Africa,
and presents a survey of existing literature and data on the topic. In assessing
the research conducted on the topic, and the extent to which data has been
collected or is currently being collected, this chapter will outline areas for further
research and make recommendations for ways in which research and data can
be used to inform policies and programmes. The literature review has focused
on a selection of studies considered relevant in terms of methodology and date
of publication but is in no way comprehensive. The writing of this chapter was
also supported by a number of key informant interviews with practitioners in the
countries of assessment.
Given that North Africa is a large and dynamic region, particularly from
the perspective of migration flows and migrant smuggling activity, in order to do
justice to the countries it encompasses, the geographic scope of the chapter has
been narrowed to the countries that feed into the Central Mediterranean route.
These are Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia.
Finally, the irregular migration flow to, through and from North Africa
is a mixed flow comprising labour migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
This means that the people on the move are a complex group of people with
differing motivations who all make the same journeys, often relying on the
same smugglers. Thus, for the purposes of this chapter, the word migrant will
be used broadly to refer to all people on the move through the region, unless a
distinction is otherwise made.
Overview of migrant smuggling in the region
Migratory flows in North Africa fall within broader international migration
patterns as North Africa is both a destination region for sub-Saharan African
migrants and also a transit region for migrants from the subcontinent who wish
to travel to Europe irregularly, with both the Central Mediterranean and Western
Migrant Smuggling Data and Research:
A global review of the emerging evidence base
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