ReliefWeb

The “fight against smuggling” is a key priority for the EU and its member states in their efforts towards achieving more orderly migration. The EU approach is based on increased and intensified cooperation with third countries. Targeted “counter migrant smuggling partnerships” with countries of origin and transit will focus on disrupting cross-border criminal smuggling networks and strengthening law enforcement and operational capacity of partner countries with the view to prevent irregular departures. Countering human smuggling is often portrayed as the silver bullet to end movements through irregular pathways and presented as the key remedy for addressing human rights abuses along migratory routes.

Evidence, research, and operational insights from the past years’ implementation of the EU approach to human smuggling, however, point to a more complex reality. This complexity includes the importance of recognizing and distinguishing between the diversity of actors engaged in the facilitation of irregular movements; adequately considering and addressing the unintended protection implications of anti-smuggling measures and demonstrated harmful human rights effects; and understanding and taking into account the role of facilitated journeys and smuggling within the reality of unavailable safe, regular and accessible pathways for refugees and migrants.

The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) are uniquely placed to provide recommendations towards a more protection-sensitive approach to actions against human smuggling grounded in evidence and based on operational reality. DRC is in direct contact with communities along key migratory routes implementing humanitarian and development programs, while MMC carries out research and analysis drawing on comprehensive primary data collected directly from refugees and migrants on the move as well as from smugglers themselves through the vast 4Mi network.