SIXTH INTERNATIONAL METROPOLIS CONFERENCE

WORKSHOP 33: Human smuggling and government's responses

Wednesday, November 28, 2001
14:00 - 17:30


ORGANIZERS

René Hesseling
Policy Advisor, Immigration and Naturalization Service, The Netherlands
P.O. Box 30125, 2500 GC The Hague, The Netherlands
31 70 370 3896 (tel)
31 70 370 3397 (fax)
rhesseli@ind.minjus.nl

Caroline Melis
Citizenship and Immigration Canada
365 Laurier Avenue West
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 1L1
Canada

Dr. Jeroen Doomernik,
Researcher, IMES - University of Amsterdam
Rokin 84, 1018 KX Amsterdam, The Netherlands
31 20 5254012 (tel)
31 20 5253628 (fax)
J.Doomernik@FRW.UVA.NL

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The phenomenon of human smuggling poses many challenges for countries of origin of smuggled migrants, transit countries and countries of destination. It is widely believed that human smuggling as an international trade grew rapidly in volume and degree of professionalism during the last decade. Research has shown a) that they are instrumental in the current arrival of a sizeable number of asylum seekers in Western Europe and many undocumented migrants in Northern America, b) in the Western European case often target countries they can smuggle people into most easily. As a consequence, many asylum seekers end up in countries they themselves would not necessarily have selected. Because of the ever widening gap in economic prosperity in developed and developing countries the incentive to seek a better future in a more prosperous part of the world will increase in the latter countries. War and natural disasters will add to the migration pressure. As a consequence smuggling organisations will continue to attract clientele and will further improve their methods. This forms a major challenge for countries dealing with this type of crime.

During the last decade governments in countries of destination developed different strategies in dealing with human smuggling. The common strategy consists of making smuggling punishable (often defining it illegal when making profit is the motive) and of investing in law enforcement and border controls. In this workshop the effectiveness of these strategies will be discussed. But we will also look for alternative approaches to counter human smuggling. Therefore strategies in countering other types of organised crime (for instance drugs of weapon trade) will be compared to the approach to human smuggling. One of the basic questions in this regard is: is human smuggling really as organised as is widely assumed? The objective of the workshop is to deepen the understanding of both policymakers and academics by exchanging expertise.

The main question posed in the workshop is: should common government strategies in combatting human smuggling be re-evaluated and, if this is the case, what could be effective alternative strategies?

More specifically, the following questions could be answered by the participants:
* What are the benefits and drawbacks of the existing strategies in combating human smuggling? Do intensified law enforcement and increased penalties bring success? What 'best practices' can be identified?

* Are there alternative responses, and if so, what alternative approaches could be effective?
- how could a more integrated approach be given substance: integrated in a operational sense (prevention, interception/disrupting, return) and in a geographical sense (countries of origin, transit and destination)
- some identify methods of communication and financial transactions the weak spots of smuggling organisations. Are these really weak spots, and if so, how can they be effectively addressed?
- large ethnic communities in countries of destination seem to play a role in the process of smuggling people from their country of origin. Is this really the case and can a strategy to address this phenomenon be developed?
- could increased opportunity for legal migration have effect on human smuggling

* Governments have much more experiences in dealing with other forms of organised crime. To what extent do these crime-organisations differ from human smuggling organisations regarding organisational degree and methods of operating? What lessons can be learned from the much longer experience of tackling other types of crime?

DURATION
2 sessions (3 hours)

STRUCTURE
papers are invited from a) two policy makers , b) two law enforcement officials, from both sides of the Atlantic, plus EUROPOL (to ensure an intra-European comparative perspective), c) IOM's specialist on the issue, d) two or three researchers, including Prof. Chin. The first session will be devoted to presentations, the second to discussion.

PARTICIPANTS
René Hesseling, INDIAC, Ministry of Justice, The Netherlands (chair)

Prof. Ko-Lin Chin, Rutgers University in Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
David Kyle, University of California Davis, USA
Frank Laczko, International Organisation for Migration, Switzerland
Jeroen Doomernik, Universiteit van Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Christian Bratz, EUROPOL, The Netherlands
Dr. C. Klos: European Commission, DG Justice and Home Affairs, Unit A/2 - Immigration and Asylum
Dr.Tetyana Klynchenko, Institute for Political and Ethnic Studies, NAS of Ukraine
Bimal Ghosh, consultant of IOM, author of the book "Huddled Masses and Uncertain Shores"
Elizabeth Tromp, policy maker of Citizenship and Immigration Canada