Human Trafficking - Human Misery! European Governments to Blame

The trade in migrants is nothing new, but distinctions can be made, mostly in the implications for the rights of those involved. ‘Trafficking’ is usually defined as a crime against women and children for the purpose of sexual exploitation or slavery, while ‘smuggling’ involves all kinds of migrants and ends once entry occurs. Trafficking therefore assumes coercion, unlike smuggling where, under the current legislation, a migrant is also committing an offence by entering into a contract with smugglers.

In July this year the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) published their report "The trafficking and smuggling of refugees: the end game in European asylum policy?" The report is an in depth analysis of human trafficking and smuggling but, more importantly, it concludes that existing European policies are part of the problem and not the solution.

"Refugees are now forced to use illegal means if they want to access Europe at all. The direction of current policy risks not so much solving the problem of trafficking but rather ending the right of asylum in Europe, one of the most fundamental of all human rights. Any comprehensive approach that tackles trafficking and smuggling successfully requires legal and safe migration opportunities for all refugees, as well as necessary enforcement measures. …. As international policy currently stands, if European governments were ever successful in stopping organised illegal migration at source or in transit countries, they would have ended European asylum policy as we know it."

As it stands now, asylum is an elitist category available only to a small minority of world refugees. Illegal entry however is not something that only contemporary asylum seekers are forced to do. Indeed, illegal entry for the purpose of asylum is regulated by the 1951 Geneva Convention Article 31 (1):"The Contracting States shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened in the sense of Article 1 [the refugee definition], enter or are present in their territory without authorisation, provided they present themselves without delay to the authorities and show good cause for their illegal entry or presence."

A person’s right to leave any country is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is substantiated in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Even if this ‘right to leave’ is thwarted by the migration controls of the destination country, it remains a fundamental human right.

Trafficking is a serious transnational crime with an estimated turnover of $7 to $10 billion, but the involvement of organised crime in migration was not seen as a significant problem for European Governments until the 1990s.

The report states: "police forces have emphasised the struggle against so-called organised crime as an overriding and all-embracing theme into which refugee policy, too, is being fitted. Illegal migration is now being construed as an imported crime, so that commercial assistance for refugees is accordingly categorised as ‘organised crime’".

The final effect of criminalisation of irregular migrants who later claim asylum is the public, as well as official, perception that their claims must be bogus otherwise they would not enter clandestinely. And, once labelled as 'bogus', there is almost no way for asylum seekers to exonerate themselves.

The UNHCR report makes a number of useful recommendations such as use of language and terminology: "it is misleading in the extreme to continually refer to people, who are likely to be refugees, as ‘aliens’, ‘bogus asylum-seekers’, ‘clandestines’ or ‘illegal immigrants’. All parties must be clear and consistent in the language they use in order to overcome the large amount of public confusion and mistrust on issues of asylum policy. This report recommends that all parties endeavour to use the more neutral term ‘irregular migrant’ in all situations of trafficking or smuggling until the point that protection is actively sought by the migrant, at which point they become an ‘asylum-seeker’. The word ‘refugee’ can and should be used in its presumptive sense at any stage of the migratory process once the individual has left their country of origin. The distinction between ‘trafficking’ and ‘smuggling’ that has emerged during 1999 is not an absolute one but remains valid none-the-less. All agencies should be explicit about exactly who they are talking about and refrain from using the more emotive phase ‘trafficking’ when they are actually talking about ‘smuggling’."

The right to asylum in Europe remains a cornerstone of all European positions on human rights, continues the report. "It is ethically indefensible for member states to promote human rights in their foreign policy if the right to asylum is negated by pre-entry border control measures. All migrants have human rights, regardless of their immigration status, their legality or whether they are refugees or not. …. European Governments have a basic obligation to protect all irregular migrants from racism and actions of discrimination. As part of this, governments have a duty not to accommodate or settle refugees in situations where they risk such persecution. There is a duty not to portray refugees who used an illegal means of entry as being in any way criminal."

Unfortunately, this report comes in the aftermath of the EU meeting in Tampere last year where the foundations for a common asylum policy have already been set out. The Conclusions from the meeting outline the new approach to asylum and immigration, and one of them (22) urges the establishment of a common EU visa issuing office as an answer to illegal immigration and trafficking. The idea is to create a multi-disciplinary approach to immigration and asylum which would combine efforts in foreign policy, development and aid and trade with 'migration management'.

"United for Intercultural Action" has documented more than 2,000 deaths as a result of Fortress Europe and the human smuggling business is booming.

As far as European policymakers are concerned if anyone wants to be considered a 'genuine', asylum seeker they will have to parachute themselves into Europe, because no other route is left for them.

The UNHCR report is available on www.unhcr.org