Research

With an increasing number of international migrants – and even more internal migrants residing in developing countries – human mobility is a reality in the South, with an ever-increasing potential to positively impact on development. In fact, South–South migration is just as important in magnitude as South–North migration. The report summarizes the major findings of the ACP Observatory’s research activities on the major aspects of migration in 12 countries of the South, in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific.  The report begins by highlighting the key findings of the ACP Observatory studies and is organized according to the following thematic areas: labour mobility; the
impact of South–South migration on development; diaspora and remittances; internal migration and displacement; and irregular and return migration, as well as some crosscutting
themes such as human rights and environmental migration.

Migrant Smuggling Data and Research: A global review of the emerging evidence base presents a unique review of what is being collected and what can be done to further build the evidence base on migrant smuggling globally. The report is the result of a collaboration between the International Organization for Migration and researchers from a range of backgrounds and academic disciplines, and supported by the Government of Turkey.

The report shows that important research has been undertaken on the transnational crime aspects of migrant smuggling, including on routes, smuggling organization (such as criminal networking and facilitation), smuggler profiles and fees/payment. Likewise, there is an emerging academic literature on migrant smuggling, particularly the economic and social processes involved in smuggling, which has largely been based on small-scale qualitative research, mostly undertaken by early career researchers. Contributions from private research companies, as well as investigative journalists, have provided useful insights in some regions, helping to shed light on smuggling practices. There remains, however, sizeable gaps in migration policy research and data, particularly in relation to migration patterns and processes linked to migrant smuggling, including its impact on migrants (particularly vulnerability, abuse and exploitation), as well as its impact on irregular migration flows (such as increasing scale, diversity and changes in geography). Addressing these systemic and regional gaps in data and research would help deepen understanding of the smuggling phenomenon, and provide further insights into how responses can be formulated that better protect migrants while enhancing States’ abilities to manage orderly migration.


Table of contents:


•Foreword
•Contributors
•Report Overview by Marie McAuliffe and Frank Laczko
•West and Central Africa by Jørgen Carling
•East Africa by Nassim Majidi and Linda Oucho
•North Africa by Arezo Malakooti
•Europe by Danai Angeli and Anna Triandafyllidou
•Turkey by Ahmet İçduygu and Sebnem Koser Akcapar
•Afghanistan by Nassim Majidi and Richard Danziger
•South Asia by Dinuk Jayasuriya and Ramesh Sunam
•South-East Asia and Australia by Anne Gallagher and Marie McAuliffe
•North-East Asia by Jiyoung Song
•Latin America by Gabriella E. Sanchez
•The United States by Sheldon X. Zhang

Over the past years, public attention has gradually turned to the experiences of migrants along the precarious Mediterranean routes to Europe. A large number of migrants continue to risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea on the way to Europe, often enduring long and perilous journeys. A growing body of evidence is beginning to highlight the scale and scope of exploitation experienced by migrants along these routes, including human trafficking.
This report examines migrants’ vulnerability to human trafficking and exploitation by exploring risk and protective factors associated with unsafe migration, through the systematic evidence collected by IOM’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) operations in 2016. It presents the results from the largest existing set of survey data on the vulnerability of migrants to abuse, exploitation and human trafficking on the Mediterranean routes to Europe.
The analysis of the IOM survey data shows that more than one third (37%) of all interviewed migrants had a personal experience that indicated the presence of human trafficking or other exploitative practices along the route. Seventy-three per cent of migrants interviewed along the Central Mediterranean route presented at least one indicator of exploitation, along with 14 per cent of migrants interviewed along the Eastern Mediterranean route. The analysis in this report goes beyond describing the correlates of vulnerability, and it explores whether potential predictors can be associated with vulnerability when statistically controlling for the effects of other variables. Advanced statistical analysis (a set of multilevel logistic regression models) was undertaken to identify factors that predict migrants’ vulnerability during the journey.
Data derive from interviews conducted over a one-year period with more than 16,000 migrants in seven countries, namely, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Serbia, Slovenia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.