A boy plays at the Greek-Macedonian border crossing of Idomeni on 7 March 2016. Vadim Ghirda/Flickr. (CC 2.0 by)
As irregular migration and asylum-seeking flows to Europe – and globally – intensify, the role of migrant smuggling networks in shaping these flows is receiving increased attention. In reviewing two recent migration/asylum seeking crises – the Mediterranean refugee crisis and the case of the Andaman Sea in southeast Asia, both taking place in 2015 – I argue that there is an increasing tendency to address migrant smuggling purely as an issue of criminality and security. An approach of this kind, however, is less than advantageous. Instead, I call for a more nuanced understanding of people smuggling as a social and economic phenomenon rooted in local societies.
Recent policy developments at the EU level provide a useful example on how the focus on irregular migration and asylum-seeking governance today is much too geared to combatting smuggling networks. Southern European countries and Greece in particular have been confronted with exponentially increasing flows of asylum seekers and irregular migrants since 2013, and particularly during 2015-2016. Indeed, nobody predicted the dramatic escalation of irregular maritime arrivals that took place during 2015 and lasted till early 2016.
