Edited by Fiona David

The report explores how proper data collection and use can combat trafficking. It defines relevant terms and how country case studies (Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Cambodia) highlight concepts, successes and missteps in practice.

Geneva, SWIT: International Organization for Migration, 2006. 164p.

Edited by Marie McAuliffe and Frank Laczko

Migrant Smuggling Data and Research: A global review of the emerging evidence base presents a unique review of what is being collected and what can be done to further build the evidence base on migrant smuggling globally. The report is the result of a collaboration between the International Organization for Migration and researchers from a range of backgrounds and academic disciplines, and supported by the Government of Turkey.

The report shows that important research has been undertaken on the transnational crime aspects of migrant smuggling, including on routes, smuggling organization (such as criminal networking and facilitation), smuggler profiles and fees/payment. Likewise, there is an emerging academic literature on migrant smuggling, particularly the economic and social processes involved in smuggling, which has largely been based on small-scale qualitative research, mostly undertaken by early career researchers. Contributions from private research companies, as well as investigative journalists, have provided useful insights in some regions, helping to shed light on smuggling practices. There remains, however, sizeable gaps in migration policy research and data, particularly in relation to migration patterns and processes linked to migrant smuggling, including its impact on migrants (particularly vulnerability, abuse and exploitation), as well as its impact on irregular migration flows (such as increasing scale, diversity and changes in geography). Addressing these systemic and regional gaps in data and research would help deepen understanding of the smuggling phenomenon, and provide further insights into how responses can be formulated that better protect migrants while enhancing States’ abilities to manage orderly migration.

Geneva, SWIT: International Organization for Migration, 2016. 340p.

By Chelozona Eze

Justice and Human Rights in the African Imagination is an interdisciplinary reading of justice in literary texts and memoirs, flms, and social anthropological texts in postcolonial Africa..Inspired by Nelson Mandela and South Africa’s robust achievements in human rights, this book argues that the notion of restorative justice is integral to the proper functioning of participatory democracy and belongs to the moral architecture of any decent society. Focusing on the efforts by African writers, scholars, artists, and activists to build flourishing communities, the author discusses various quests for justice such as environmental justice, social justice, intimate justice, and restorative justice. It discusses in particular ecological violence, human rights abuses such as witchcraft accusations, the plight of people affected by disability, homophobia, misogyny, and sex trafficking, and forgiveness. 　 This book will be of interest to scholars of African literature and films, literature and human rights, and literature and the environment.

Abingdon, Oxon, UK; New York: Routledge, 2021. 185p.

By Sylvie Bredeloup and Olivier Pliez

Since the mid 1990s, the media have directed our attention to the thousands of Southern Sahara Africans who take life threatening risks crossing the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic ocean. Their numbers on migratory routes leading to Europe are increasing, joining up, especially in the “Libyan crossroad” with North Africans, Egyptians and even Asian migrants on the same quest. This image reflects reality, but only partially so, for it leads one to believe that these migrants cross the Sahara in the hope of reaching Europe. It should be pointed out that one of the main misunderstandings when evoking these migrations flows is to reduce them to the act of crossing the straits of the Mediterranean Sea. Since the 1990s, the Libyan case exemplifies the way the multilateral (EU-Maghreb) or bilateral (Libya-Italy) political negotiations between the two shores of the Mediterranean sea rapidly focus on the figure of the “illegal sub-Saharan migrant in transit”. This simplistic view is dangerous because it erases the historical dimension of the movement of people and its consequences. The Sahara is not merely a desert to be crossed; it is an area that has been shaped for more than half a century by the various migrant, trader or pastoral communities who have contributed to its massive urbanisation and economic development. At the same time, the reorganization of African migration is affected by the inflation of tensions, border and police controls, the diversification of routes between Niger, Chad Sudan and Libya consequently contributes to the perpetuation of transit spaces. There are tens of thousands of these migrants who settle down more or less durably in these new transit areas dependants on opportunity, status controls, and expulsions. But these transit areas have also become places where migrants seek employment, create new economic activities, or develop new skills while working, studying or practicing other tongues. As migration patterns across the Sahara are reconfigured, the impact is more visible in some places. But their durability should not be taken for granted. Villages specialised in the transit economy may easily decline as new diplomatic relations are formed between countries of immigration and third countries

Florence, Italy: European University Institute. 2011. 23p.

By Linguère M'Baye

The aim of this thesis is to study through four essays the economics of migration from developing countries. The …rst chapter assesses the e¤ect of natural disasters (mainly due to climate change), in developing countries, on migration rates and looks at how this e¤ect varies according to the level of education of people. Our results show that natural disasters are positively associated with emigration rates and also involve the migration of highly skilled people. The second chapter presents the di¤erent channels explaining the intention to migrate illegally. One of the novelties of the analysis is that it uses a tailor-made survey among urban Senegalese individuals. We …nd that potential illegal migrants are willing to accept a substantial risk of death and tend to be young, single and with a low level of education. We also show that the price of illegal migration, migrant networks, high expectations, tight immigration policies and the preferred destination country all play a role in the willingness to migrate illegally. The third chapter completes the second one by studying the role of risk-aversion and discount rate in illegal migration from Senegal. Our results show that these individual preferences matter in the willingness to migrate illegally and to pay a smuggler. Finally in the fourth chapter, we are interested in the e¤ect of migrants on credit markets in a rural Senegalese context. According to our results, having a migrant in a household increases both the likelihood of having a loan and its size, whether the loan is formal or informal. We also …nd that this positive e¤ect remains signi…cant no matter if the loan is taken for professional activities or simply to buy food.

Université d' Auvergne ,CERDI - Centre d'Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International. 2013. 183p.

By M. C. Chiuri, G. De Arcangelis, A. M. D'Uggento and G. Ferri

The Survey on illegal migration in Italy (SIMI henceforth) aims to analyse the phenomenon of clandestines migrating to or through Italy. SIMI contains information concerning the main demographic, economic and social characteristics of a sample of 920 clandestines crossing Italian borders and apprehended during 2003. Individual motivations to migrate, migrants’ intentions to return, their expectations about income at destination and their intended remittance rates are collected within SIMI and discussed in this paper. Evidence generally corroborates the predictions of the pertinent literature on development economics with respect to the decision to migrate. Apprehended illegal migrants expected to earn about 8-10 times their income at home, had they reached final destination. The median cost of the trip is more than a yearly average income. One of the conclusions of the survey is that future migratory flows may be massive, as the interviewees (typically in the mid-20s and with family and friends at home that are ready to join in the future) perceive themselves as frontrunners among nationals in their age cohort.

Italy: CHILD - Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic economics, 2007. 22p.

By Jean-Louis Arcand and Linguère M'Baye

Illegal immigration from the developing world to rich countries is one of the most controversial topics today. Using a unique data set on potential illegal migrants collected in Dakar, Senegal, we characterize the preferences and characteristics of illegal migrants, and the manner in which these factors interact so as to yield observed behavior. On the basis of our theoretical model, we evaluate a measure of the time and risk preferences through the individual discount rates and the individual coefficients of absolute risk aversion. Then, we test empirically our theoretical propositions and we show that these variables play a role, in the illegal migration decision, in the willingness to pay a smuggler and in the choice of the method of migration, at least as important as "classical" migration determinants such as the expected wage in the host country.

Clermont-Ferrand, France: CERDI, 2011. 27p.

By Roberto Sollazzo and Matthias Nowak

The tri-border area between Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, and Mali has long been an important zone of commerce for West Africa, and a key transit route for the trade flowing between the Gulf of Guinea, the Sahara, Sahel, and Mediterranean. In recent years, however, smuggling and trafficking has risen in the subregion because of the growing demand for illicit goods and firearms. This demand is fueled by communities’ need for self-defense due to banditry and the increased presence of jihadist groups; needs of traditional hunters and non-state security providers; and the ecosystem around artisanal and small-scale gold mining in which criminals seek weapons to target the miners who in turn equip themselves with firearms for protection against attacks. These dynamics heighten the risk of insecurity and instability. Tri-border Transit: Trafficking and Smuggling in the Burkina Faso–Côte d’Ivoire–Mali Region, by the Survey's Security Assessment in North Africa (SANA) project, takes a detailed look at the actors enabling smuggling and arms trafficking in the region, identifies the drivers of this traffic, and analyzes the impacts on local communities. The paper finds that there are three key trafficking axes in the area and that states are largely unable to control their borders and prevent these activities. The study also shows that illicit firearms are often trafficked together with other smuggled goods such as gold or drugs, using the ant trade method.

Geneva: Small Arms Survey, 2020. 20p.

Edited by Julia Planitzer and Helmut Sax

This comprehensive Commentary provides the first fully up-to-date analysis and interpretation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. It offers a concise yet thorough article-by-article guide to the Convention’s anti-trafficking standards and corresponding human rights obligations. This Commentary includes an analysis of each article’s drafting history, alongside a contextualisation of its provisions with other anti-trafficking standards and a discussion of the core issues of interpretation.

Edward Elgar. Cheltenham, UK + Northampton, MA, USA. 2020. 563p.

By Alex P. Schmid

This Research Paper explores and questions some assumed causal links between terrorism on the one hand and (forced and irregular) migration on the other. The paper delves into the role that state and non-state terrorism might have in causing migration as well as analysing if and how refugees’ camps and the diaspora community might be a target for radicalisation. One of the findings of the paper is how migration control for the control of terrorism is a widely used instrument however, it might hurt bona fide migrants and legal foreign residents more than mala fide terrorists. Finally, this Research Paper offers recommendations that can go some way towards disentangling the issues of (refugee) migration and terrorism

The Hague: International Centre for Counter Terrorism (ICCT) , 2016. 63p.

By Hayli Millar, and Tamara O’Doherty

The Palermo Protocol & Canada Ten Years On: The Evolution and Human Rights Impacts of Anti-Trafficking Laws in Canada is a comprehensive study of Canada’s use of anti-trafficking legislation evaluating the stated intentions and actual effects of national anti-human trafficking laws, in the more than ten years since Canada ratified the international treaty. Our primary goals were to contribute to knowledge uptake of marginalized groups and to foster increased communication between sectors working on similar issues, with the fundamental purpose of improving access to justice for im/migrant sex workers.

Vancouver, Canada: International Centre for Criminal Law Reform - ICCLR, 2015. 115p.

By Greenpeace Southeast Asia

For several years now, international media has shone a spotlight on the inhumane working conditions of migrant fishers from Southeast Asia. The vessels they work on reportedly use destructive, illegal, and unreported methods, which take a heavy toll on the health and viability of our already fragile oceans. By the fishers’ own accounts, lured by promises of higher wages, many find themselves indebted to shady brokers and employment agencies. Through salary deductions, as indicated in their payment schedules, Indonesian migrant fishers have to pay guarantee deposits and processing costs, far in excess of the amounts they were expecting, for the first 6 to 8 months of their employment. As a result, they often work ridiculous hours in one of the world’s most dangerous industries, for little or no pay. This alone suggests modern slavery, but the issues at hand are multifarious and just as heart-wrenching. Isolation at sea for months, even years, makes escape difficult and often impossible. According to the Taiwan Fisheries Agency, as of June 2019, some 21,994 migrant fishers from Indonesia and 7,730 from the Philippines are reportedly working on Taiwanese distant water fishing vessels. These two countries combined represent the majority of migrant fishers on Taiwan’s distant water fleets – a USD2 billion industry and one of the top five distant water fishing fleets on the high seas.

Dwindling fish populations are forcing vessels to seek fish further and further out to sea, which results in higher operation costs and increases the possibility of violation and exploitation of migrant fishers who endure backbreaking work just to make a living. The fates of migrant fishers remain uncertain because the crimes they allege that were committed against them usually happen out in the open sea, far away from the scrutiny of regulators who might ensure their proper working conditions and safety.

Bangkok: Greenpeace Southeast Asia, 2019. 52p.

By Daniel Awigra and Ariela Naomi Syifa

Seafarers working as vessel crew [known as Anak Buah Kapal (ABK, vessel crew)] are considered migrant workers, as they work overseas for economic reasons along with its entailing vulnerabilities. Human trafficking, forced labor, and other phenomena that can be categorized as contemporary forms of slavery1 are just the tip of the iceberg. A report from the Indonesian Migrant Workers Trade Union (SBMI) investigating cases between 2015- 2020, revealed how Indonesian fishers worked barely within minimum protection: worked ridiculously long hours, had their wages unpaid, and endured poor labor conditions that in some cases resulted in death.2 In “Seabound: The Journey to Modern Slavery on the High Seas” (2019), Greenpeace Southeast Asia (GPSEA) analysed the complaints from Indonesian migrant vessel crews over 13 months from 2019-2020. The report unveils the modes and types of forced labor that frequently occur onboard distant water fishing vessels, and various indicators that indicate how forced labor has been increasing. GPSEA identified several forced labor elements, including wage deduction (87%), horrible working and living conditions (82%), fraud (80%), and abuse of vulnerability (67%). The report also noted an increasing trend of reported cases: from 34 cases (eight months from December 2018 - July 2019) to 62 cases (13 months from May 2019 - June 2020).3 This indicates a lack of serious effort by the government to properly address these issues for years.

Jakarta: Greenpeace Indonesia, 2022. 48p.

By International Organization for Migration (IOM)

The trafficking of men to Thai fishing boats started in earnest after the ravages of Typhoon Gay in 1989, which resulted in the sinking of over 200 fishing boats and caused at least 458 deaths (an additional 600 persons are missing and presumed dead), mostly among Thai fishing crews from the poor Northeast region of Thailand.1 Prior to the storm, fishing was primarily concentrated in the nearby Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Ocean (which were still relatively rich in marine resources) and considered as lucrative, seasonal work. Almost overnight, fearful Thai crews abandoned the sector, leaving remaining boat owners in desperate need of labour. Burmese, Cambodian and a few Lao migrant workers began to be recruited to replace the rapidly dwindling Thai crews, and informal migrant and Thai labour brokers sprung up to facilitate this process. Twenty years later, Thai fishing vessels ply the territorial waters of dozens of nations, especially Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam, and travel as far as Somalia and other parts of the coast of East Africa. Yet, for an increasingly sophisticated industry, Thailand’s recruitment for workers in the fishing sector remains largely based on informal recruiting processes which often lead to abuse and foster human trafficking. Many fishermen are sold to fishing boat owners (at a certain price per head, the ka hua -- see glossary). A trafficked fisherman must thereafter work to pay off the ka hua before being paid any wages. Depending on the amount of the ka hua, a trafficked fisherman could be working from one month to as long as six to eight months before earning any wages for himself. In some cases, depending on the predilection of the boat captain and/or owner, trafficked fishermen are kept working on boats for years without pay. Working conditions on fishing boats are extremely arduous. Fishermen are expected to work 18 to 20 hours of back-breaking manual labour per day, seven days per week. Sleeping and eating is possible only when the nets are down and recently caught fish have been sorted. Fishermen live in terribly cramped quarters, face shortages of freshwater and must work even when fatigued or ill, thereby risking injury to themselves or others. Fishermen who do not perform according to the expectations of the boat captain may face severe beatings or other forms of physical maltreatment, denial of medical care and, in the worst cases, maiming or killing.

Bangkok: IOM, 2011. 92p.

Edited by Sergio Carrera and Elspeth Guild

While the current migration and refugee crisis is the most severe that the world has known since the end of the Second World War (with over 60 million refugees worldwide, according to the UNHCR), it may turn into the norm, because the reasons to migrate keep on multiplying. These reasons range from long-lasting political crises, endemic civil wars, atrocities committed against ethnic or religious groups by extremist organisations to the lack of economic development prospects and climate change. The European Union has a duty to welcome some of these people – namely those who need international protection. With over a million irregular migrants crossing its external borders in 2015, the European Union has to engage in a deep reflection on the rationale underpinning its policies on irregular migration and migrant smuggling – and their effects. At such a strenuous time, the challenge before us is “to work closely together in a spirit of solidarity” while the “need to secure Europe’s borders” remains an imperative, to recall President Juncker’s words. Of particular relevance in this framework is the issue of migrant smuggling, or facilitation of irregular entry, stay or transit. Addressing migrant smuggling – located at the intersection of criminal law, which sanctions organised crime, the management of migration and the protection of the fundamental rights of irregular migrants – has become a pressing priority. But the prevention of and fight against migrant smuggling is a complex process, affected by contextual factors, including a high level of economic and social disparity between the EU and several third countries, difficult cooperation with source and transit countries and limited legal migration channels to the EU

Brussels: Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), 2016. 112p.

By Sarah Wolff

The main argument is that improving migrants’ rights and conceptual linkages between SSG/R and migration is best achieved, by decentring our gaze, namely going beyond the ‘national’ and ‘state-centric’ view that characterizes traditionally SSG/R and to consider the agency of both migrants and SSR actors. First from a migrants’ perspective, it is key for SSR actors to go beyond traditional legal classifications and to consider the diversity of personal situations that involve refugees, stranded migrants and asylum seekers, which might endorse different roles at different times of their journeys and lives. Second, the transnational nature of migration calls for a transnationalization of SSG/R too. For too long the concept has mostly been applied within the national setting of SSR institutions and actors. Migration calls for a clear decentring that involves a transnational dimension and more work among transnational actors and policymakers to facilitate a norm transfer from the domestic to the interstate and international level. As such, the ‘transnational’ nature of migration and its governance needs to be ‘domesticated’ within the national context in order to change the mindset of SSG/R actors and institutions. More importantly, the paper argues that poor SSG/R at home produces refugees and incentivizes migrants to leave their countries after being victims of violence by law enforcement and security services. During migrants’ complex and fragmented journeys, good security sector governance is fundamental to address key challenges faced by these vulnerable groups. I also argue that a better understanding of migrants’ and refugees’ security needs is beneficial and central to the good governance of the security sector. After reviewing the key terms of migration and its drivers in section 2, section 3 reviews how SSG is part of the implementation of the GCM. SSR actors play a role in shaping migratory routes and refugees’ incentives to leave, in explaining migrants’ and refugees’ resilience, in protecting migrants and refugees, and in providing security. Although it cautions against artificial classifications and the term of ‘transit migration’, section 4 reviews what the core challenges are in the countries of origin, transit and destination. Section 5 provides a detailed overview of the linkages between migration and each security actor: the military, police forces, intelligence services, border guards, interior ministries, private actors, criminal justice, parliaments, independent oversight bodies and civil society. Section 6 formulates some recommendations.

London: Ubiquity Press, 2021. 80p.

By Ellebrecht, Sabrina

The external border of the EU remains under permanent construction. Sabrina Ellebrecht engages with two of its primary building sites – the European Border Surveillance System (Eurosur) and the Refugee Boat. She analyzes how the function and quality of the EU's current political border is crafted, shaped, produced and eventually stabilized through these two mediators. Eurosur and the Refugee Boat mediate a level of Europeanization which has hitherto – and would otherwise have – been impossible. While Eurosur mobilizes the limits of border policing in various ways, the Refugee Boat functions as the vacillating European Other to legitimize both control and humanitarian interventions. The study shows the specific, if not constitutive, ambivalences of EU border policies, and explores the emergence of viapolitics.

Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2020. 321p.

Edited By Mark Gibney, Gamze Erdem Türkelli, Markus Krajewski, Wouter Vandenhole

"The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations brings international scholarship on transnational human rights obligations into a comprehensive and wide-ranging volume. Each chapter combines a thorough analysis of a particular issue area and provides a forward-looking perspective of how extraterritorial human rights obligations (ETOs) might come to be more fully recognized, outlining shortcomings but also best state practices. It builds insights gained from state practice to identify gaps in the literature and points to future avenues of inquiry. The Handbook is organized into seven thematic parts: conceptualization and theoretical foundations; enforcement; migration and refugee protection; financial assistance and sanctions; finance, investment and trade; peace and security; and environment. Chapters summarize the cutting edge of current knowledge on key topics as leading experts critically reflect on ETOs, and, where appropriate, engage with the Maastricht Principles to critically evaluate their value 10 years after their adoption. The Routledge Handbook on Extraterritorial Human Rights Obligations is an authoritative and essential reference text for scholars and students of human rights and human rights law, and more broadly, of international law and international relations as well as to those working in international economic law, development studies, peace and conflict studies, environmental law and migration."

London; New York: Routledge, 2022. 500p.

By Vireak Chhun, Lucia Bird, and Thi Hoang

The number of women travelling from Cambodia to China for forced or arranged marriages has surged since 2016 and experienced a further spike since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many Cambodian women in arranged marriages with Chinese men, whether originally consensual or not, report finding themselves in remote areas and abusive contexts. China’s one-child policy, in force between 1979 and 2015, reportedly led to sex-selective abortions by families seeking a son instead of a daughter, creating a significant gender imbalance in the country. Driven by Chinese men’s search for a wife, especially in rural areas, thousands of women from Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, and Myanmar are transported to China to wed. Although some travel knowing that they are to be married, others are deceived. Many report suffering violence, sex abuse and forced labour. Cambodian women and girls are coerced and forced into arranged and forced marriages through various means: some are deceived and promised a job in China; others are told they need a marriage certificate in order to be eligible for well-paid work (which is not the case); some are tricked and sold by their family members, relatives and acquaintances for a lump sum or the promise of a good marriage and better life in China.

Geneva: Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, 2022. 42p.

By Natalie Gonnella-Platts, Jenny Villatoro, and Laura Collins

Violence against women and girls is often excluded from conversations on the nexus of Central American migration, regional development, and domestic immigration reform. Over the last half-century, topics such as economic empowerment, democracy, transparency, and security have dominated the root-causes conversation. The aim of these investments is to improve the overall stability and well-being of countries and communities in the region, but their effectiveness is limited by a failure to consider the impacts of gender-based violence on social and systemwide challenges. Though there has been increasing focus from US and international influencers on the levels of violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras (known as the Northern Triangle) and its impact on migration, an adequate response to the gendered differences in the ways violence is perpetrated remains limited and at times nonexistent. This needs to change, especially since gender-based violence within the Northern Triangle constitutes a daily threat to women and girls—one that has been significantly worsened by corruption, weak institutions, and a culture of impunity toward perpetrators. At individual and community levels, gender-based violence drives women and girls to internal displacement, migration to the United States, or a somber third path—death either by femicide or suicide. At national levels, it seriously inhibits security, opportunity, and development. As circumstances at the southern border of the United States demonstrate, gender-based violence has a direct influence on migration flows across the region and is deeply tangled with cyclical challenges of inequity and poverty. For those who choose to seek assistance or flee their communities, high rates of revictimization and bias further obstruct access to justice and safety. Until policies and programs respond to the serious violations of agency and human rights perpetuated against women and girls (and within systems and society at large), instability in and migration from the Northern Triangle only stand to grow. As the United States and the international community consider a comprehensive plan on Central America and immigration reform, proposed strategies must anchor the status and safety of women and girls at the center of solutions

Washington, DC: Wilson Center, 2021. 24p.