Does counter-smuggling work? Evaluating measures leading to border deaths and proposing alternatives

Curbing the smuggling of people on the move is a top government priority in the UK and Europe. Border enforcement policies are often justified by claims they will counter and disrupt transnational smuggling networks and thereby reduce irregular border crossings and migrant deaths.

At the same time, NGOs and legal practitioners have shown that a growing number of prosecutions for smuggling offences are against individuals who eventually qualify for international protection, including young people and victims of trafficking. Rather than meaningfully reducing irregular border crossings, border enforcement policies are in practice displacing migration routes, emboldening smuggling services, and increasing the vulnerability and exploitation of people on the move.

In the lead up to the next UK and EU elections, we propose to examine the most up-to-date available data concerning counter-smuggling, the state of the counter-smuggling response, and the risks that enforcement poses to protection mechanisms and the asylum system.

We invite you to join a lunchtime seminar on migrant smuggling and its impacts on the Channel migration route to the UK. Speakers will share findings from relevant empirical research on people smuggling to provide insight for researchers, activists, practitioners and policy makers in the UK and Europe.

The panel will be followed by a discussion. We encourage the attendance of people working in the migrant justice sector and border policy and research.

Organisers:

Human Exploitation, Traffickig and Smuggling research group, Department of Security and Crime Science, University College London

Border Criminologies, Center for Criminology, University of Oxford

Supporting partners:

openDemocracy ‘Beyond Trafficking and Slavery’

Structure:

Chair: Dr. Cameron Thibos (openDemocracy)

Speakers:

• Dr. Gabriella Sanchez (Georgetown University)
• Dr. Luigi Achilli (European University Institute)
• Mäel Galisson (author of "The Calais Border: A Silent Serial Killer")
• Q&A

Access:

This is a hybrid event.

80 seats are available for those who can join us in person at 12:00-14:00 at UCL's Bentham House, 4-8 Endsleigh Gardens, London, WC1H 0EG.

A remote-access link will be provided for those who sign up to the event but cannot join in person.

Questions:

For any questions or inquiries about the event, conatct: david.suber.19[at]ucl.ac.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

UCL Bentham House, 4-8 Endsleigh Gardens, London, United Kingdom