27 Jul 2020

Human smuggling / Human smuggling in Africa: the creation of a new criminalised economy?

Governments need to ensure responses to migration and human smuggling don’t make it more dangerous for migrants and more lucrative for criminals.

Mobility has been a key facet of resilience across much of the African continent throughout its history, and those on the move have long relied on the support of smugglers to facilitate the journey. However, the birth of the modern migrant smuggling industry as a multi-million global business is much more recent, as is the perception of the migrant smuggler as a highly organised criminal figure.

About the author

Lucia Bird is a senior analyst at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, and a practising lawyer. Previously she worked as legal and policy adviser to the Planning and Development Department of the Punjab Government, Pakistan, and the Ministry of Finance, Ghana working on governance, institutional reform and strengthening policy processes, contracting and legislative practices.

Photo © Riccardo Niels Mayer/Adobe Stock

Related

More +

EU Flag
ENACT is funded by the European Union
ISS Donors
Interpol
Global
ENACT is implemented by the Institute for Security Studies in partnership with
INTERPOL and the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.