A practical guide to legislations and good practices when dealing with suspected and proven cases of human trafficking, specifically to identify, assist and interview victims of trafficking. 

The Guidelines provides information on how ASEAN members states can provide assistance to nationals of another member state during crisis.

The Advisory opinion issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on request by Mexico to clarify the application of the Vienna Convention on Consular relations, specifically in death penalty cases. The Court opined that right to seek consular assistance under the Vienna Convention is part of...

The Directive provides guidance on when EU citizens, in distress, in a non-EU country can approach the embassies or consulates of another EU country, when their own country is not represented. 

The article explains the relationship between statelessness and migration, talks about how IOM contributes both to providing assistance to stateless migrants and to preventing migrants from becoming stateless in the first place, and it also gives recommendations on how to prevent statelessness. 

The Horn of Africa (HoA) remains a major source of mixed migration, with people moving to neighbouring countries, the Gulf, Southern Africa and Europe. Most Eritreans who leave their country are forced to rely on smugglers to ensure that they successfully evade border controls. The report places a...

The study not only provides cross-border analysis of refugees and migrants’ journeys from their countries of origin to Libya but also looks into their living conditions once inside the country. It builds on previous research analysing migration routes and trends in Libya, in particular Altai...

Humanitarian actors expected COVID-19 to have severe consequences for people migrating on the Central Mediterranean Route (CMR) from Sub-Saharan Africa to Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. In May 2020, the Independent Monitoring, Rapid Research and Evidence Facility (IMREF) began a two-part study on the...

The research undertaken for this study is intended to contribute to the research evidence and close some of the existing gaps, particularly in relation to the business of migrant smuggling. 

In response to the surge in migrants crossing the Mediterranean—and the deaths and injuries that often result from failed journeys—European policymakers have struggled to find effective policy responses to stem the flow of boats. Deep, sophisticated insight into the decision-making process of those...

The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States are increasingly stepping up to address Trafficking in Human Beings (THB) and Smuggling of Migrants (SoM). However, they face challenges in developing the necessary holistic, long-term interventions that combine law enforcement with a rights...

This report builds on Migrant Smuggling in Asia (volume I) by outlining the current patterns of migrant smuggling in Asia and the Pacific and presenting evidence-based knowledge to guide policy and strengthen international cooperation. Developed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the...

This guide analyses in depth the dynamics and trends of the human-smuggling industry, focusing on migration from and through the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. Its goal is to provide practitioners, policymakers and law-enforcement officials with detailed information to...

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...

In May 2015, the Commission published the EU Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling setting out a series of steps to tackle this problem between 2015 and 2020. These are grouped into four main priorities: Enhanced police and judicial response (2) Improved gathering and sharing of informatio (3)...

Europe has seen an unprecedented increase in the number of irregular migrants arriving in the European Union since 2014. The scale of these migratory flows reached previously unseen heights in 2015. This trend of exponentially increasing numbers of migrants arriving in the EU is set to continue in...

An introductory guide for policy makers and practitioners on how to implement international legal obligations to criminalize migrant smuggling at the domestic level. 

The Assessment Guide provides an inventory of measures for assessing the legislative, investigative, prosecutorial, judicial, and administrative responses to the smuggling of migrants by land, air, and sea, for deterring and combating such crime, and for integrating the information and experience...

“Financial or other material benefit” is the purpose of migrant smuggling. It is the reason behind the growing involvement of organized criminal groups in conduct that often puts the lives of vulnerable migrants in great jeopardy. The financial or other material benefits associated with migrant...

The unprecedented crisis that COVID-19 has suddenly unleashed upon the world is affecting all aspects of society and is likely to have an effect on the routes and characteristics of both regular and irregular migration. Smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons will also be affected in...