Community Dimensions of Smuggling: The Case of Afghanistan and Somalia

Abstract

This article uses an ecological systems approach to detail community involvement in smuggling in Afghanistan and Somalia—two countries that have similar patterns of irregular outmigration to the West and geopolitical and human security dynamics. I emphasize community connections and family ties as the key points around which irregular migration takes place and smuggling persists. In both of these countries, smugglers are members of local communities. The social organization of smuggling is strongest at community-based points of origin, then weakens as migrants and smugglers get farther from their homes, owing to a growing diversity of actors, cultures, and languages. By analyzing the strength of ties in communities involved in smuggling, the dynamics of referrals and guarantees, and interactions across various distances, this analysis takes the focus away from the causal and economic logic of smuggling to delve instead into its relational dimensions.

Critical Perspectives on Clandestine Migration Facilitation: An Overview of Migrant Smuggling Research

“…Researchers have posed critiques of the dominant characterization of smuggling as a violent and predatory, urging a closer look at its community dimensions. This body of scholarship argues that the facilitation of irregular migration involves a multiple and diverse range of interactions, many of which are far less tragic or sensationalistic than what politicized, mediated narratives suggest (Sanchez 2015;Majidi 2016). This still narrow body of scholarship has however articulated important critiques on the need to reevaluate smuggling dynamics in order to more critically engage on its reliance by migrant and refugee communities, and on its role at facilitating mobility amid increasing border enforcement and controls.…”

“…Clients' perception of smuggling. Despite the infamous reputation smuggling facilitators have in the media, being a smuggler is far from a frowned upon activity within migrant and refugee communities (Majidi 2016;Koser 2008). Access to or information on reliable, trusted facilitators becomes critical in anticipation of clandestine journeys, as friends and families of migrants and asylum seekers and the travelers themselves are vastly aware of the challenges inherent to their passages and seek to reduce them (Alpes 2012).…”

“…However, estimating the size of the migrant smuggling market in terms of its finances is a virtually impossible proposition. Smugglers do not keep official records of their transactions, they may charge different fees to different clients, many rely on informal forms of banking (Koser 2008;Majidi 2016), and some are paid in kind while others may charge no fees at all. In other words, costs and profits associated with clandestine travels vary considerably depending on locations, clients, and facilitators.…”

“…Globalization should not be simply translated as a synonym of the ability of an organization or group to become mobile or operate at a different location at will (Varese 2011, 4). Most smuggling operations are set up at the local level (Campana 2016;Zhang 2007;Chu 2010) or within migrant or asylum seeker communities (Majidi 2016;Sanchez 2015). While interactions and encounters with members of other criminal organizations do take place, they suggest, rather than the existence of transnational collaborations or partnerships among criminal groups, the presence of communications and exchanges among them, and the sharing of routes and most likely similar mechanisms for their operations, but not the domination or take-over of a specific group (Wolf 2012).…”

“…Majidi (2016) has identified that in long-distance journeys, like those involving transit from Pakistan and Afghanistan into Europe, the initial net of protection provided by local smugglers becomes more tenuous as the distance from the place of origin increases.…”