1. Connections Between Migration and Organized Crime People Smuggling and Trafficking in Human Beings

2. Organized Transnational Crime Organized Transnational Crime ► Criminal organizations involved in: Drug trafficking Trafficking in Human Beings Trafficking in Firearms Smuggling of Migrants Money Laundering Kidnapping

3. People Smuggling “implies the procurement, for financial or material gain, of the illegal entry into a state of which the individual is neither a citizen nor a permanent resident.” Smuggling networks control routes of illegal migration Pull/Push Factors have increased due to globalization Harsh restrictions imposed by destination countries leave people in the search for alternative ways of reaching them Business of people smuggling enhanced by weak legislation, very lucrative compared with other forms of smuggling People smugglers make higher profits by smuggling larger numbers at the same time, thus worsening the conditions for the ones smuggled Smuggling takes place by land, air and sea. The smuggled often depend on their smugglers upon their arrival and are financially indebted to them

4. Trafficking in Human Beings “Trafficking in persons" shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs…” Article 3, paragraph (a) of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, which supplements the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime

5. Trafficking vs. Smuggling ► Human rights violation ► People are tricked or forced into leaving their home (country) ► Exploitation is the goal of the traffickers, it is the means by which they make money ► Violation of the rights of a sovereign state ► People want/ask to be taken to a destination country ► The “contract” is fulfilled once the smuggled person has arrived and paid

6. Human trafficking will be the subject of a major conference at Queen's University in Belfast later. Unofficial estimates suggest at least 1,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders to Northern Ireland each year. Organised by the School of Law in conjunction with the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs, the event will look at trafficking and migrants. Dr Tom O'Bokata of Queen's said many do not know what trafficking means. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Professor Jorge Bustamante will speak at Thursday's conference. Statistics suggest that approximately 600,000 to 800,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year. Some 80% are female, and 50% are children. According to the UK Human Trafficking Centre, children as young as five are made to beg and steal or are forced into sexual slavery and pornography BBC News, 25 May. 2007.

7. The Brutal Truth of People Smuggling Even by the standards of those who make a living out of the shady business of people smuggling, it's a shocking story. Confronted by an official patrol boat off the coast of Yemen, a group of smugglers forced their human cargo into the open sea. More than a hundred people died or are missing. A UN report sent to us here at the World Today says that at least one group, of eight women, resisted. They were stabbed in the face or back and pushed overboard. It also says that some of the bodies found had their eye lids, lips or breasts chopped off. The Assistant High Commissioner for the UN refugee agency Erika Feller has just returned from Yemen -- where the survivors from Ethiopia and Somalia are being sheltered. Erika Feller. “A number of the bodies that have turned up on the shore show signs of being beaten and stabbed. There are mutilated bodies. A number of them have been attacked by sharks.” Erika Feller, UNHCR BBC World Today March 28, 2007

8. Thanks for your attention