Legal migration is the best route to putting people smugglers out of business

Migrants rescued from a boat crossing the English Channel land on Dungeness Beach in Kent, Britain on August 21, 2023. Migrants who use people smugglers are not customers but victims of an illegal enterprise that puts their lives at risk for money. EPAShow less

At its core, people smuggling is a business – albeit a malign and predatory one. Those who arrange the dangerous, undocumented passage of people seeking a better life elsewhere do not do so to help others escape poverty or conflict – it is purely about illicit profit. As with legitimate businesses, smugglers who are capable, fast and effective can expect to make more money. But, as a six-month investigation published by The National this week has revealed, violence and danger are an inherent part of the business model.

Our journalists used court documents, interviews with victims, NGOs and investigators, as well as visits to the headquarters of criminals based in Iraqi Kurdistan, to piece together how such networks operate. One migrant – Noura, a teenager from the region who dreams of becoming a doctor – spoke to The National in northern France where she is waiting to make her seventh attempt to cross the English Channel. She once witnessed a shootout between rival smuggling gangs, adding that “there's a lot of violence and illegal stuff happening”.

Regular smuggling routes used by traffickers from Iraqi Kurdistan to the UK

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Noura is just one of thousands of people who are not customers but victims of an illegal enterprise that puts their lives at risk for money. Irregular migration is a complex, fast-changing and transnational problem with few easy answers. But given that smugglers are motivated by money and profit, hitting their finances would be a good place to start.

As our investigation revealed, hawala-based shadow money transfers enable trafficking in people. Although informal hawala payments have many vital and legitimate uses – such as for workers sending remittances home – a failure to keep proper records leaves the system open to abuse. Current international approaches to hawala regulation are a hotchpotch of legislation and outright bans of questionable effectiveness. Stronger and more joined-up regulation is vital to closing these loopholes, as is allowing migrants and asylum seekers better access to legitimate banking services.

Irregular migration is complex, fast-changing and transnational problem with few easy answers

As with any business, demand is also a key factor. In Iraqi Kurdistan, where monthly salaries rarely exceed $400, there is a perception that the grass in Europe is greener. However, as Ali Dolamari, who represents the Kurdistan Regional Government in Paris told The National: "Before coming to Europe, I thought that Europeans lived like kings. I didn't realise that many struggled in small flats, working long hours." Others in the Iraqi-Kurdistan region have been working hard to dispel myths about life overseas; Bakr Ali of the Association of Migrants Returning from Europe works to discourage illegal migration and help those who have come back. Such voices need to be supported.

However, it is the establishment of legal pathways to migration that will best undermine the profiteers of people smuggling. Instead of allowing people seeking a better life to become victims of criminal gangs or the subject of political attacks, countries that attract migration have much to gain by reversing the current trend of tighter immigration rules and deportations. According to the International Organisation for Migration, “global prosperity is being hampered by a lack of employment in some areas and labour shortages in others”. With the right approach, such gaps can be filled, economies strengthened and people-smuggling criminals put out of business for good.