Migration as a Business: The Case of Trafficking

Abstract

A case is made for treating international migration as a global business which has both legitimate and illegitimate sides. The migration business is conceived as a system of institutionalized networks with complex profit and loss accounts, including a set of institutions, agents and individuals each of which stands to make a commercial gain. The article focuses on migrant trafficking, the core of the illegitimate business.Migrant trafficking, a subject of growing political concern, is recognized by migration experts and policy makers to be undermining international collaborative efforts to produce ordered migration flows. Trafficking, widely condemned for its inhuman practices and links to international organized crime, is also believed to be increasing in scale and sophistication.Our model conceives of trafficking as an intermediary part of the global migration business facilitating movement of people between origin and destination countries. The model is divided into three stages: the mobilization and recruitment of migrants; their movement en route; and their insertion and integration into labour markets and host societies of destination countries. At each stage of the model we describe the trafficking business, its systematic organization and its methods of operation: its inputs and outputs; its use of a set of common geographical routes; its methods of smuggling migrants; its systems of planning and information-gathering; and its division into a set of technical and organizational tasks. This division of roles is seen as critical for trafficking's survival.The model also suggests how through the existence of common routes and networks of contacts, traffickers increasingly channel migrants, thus deter-468 Salt and Stein mining the geography of movement. We also demonstrate the model with available evidence on trafficking mainly in and across Europe and attempt thereby to show how trafficking operates both theoretically and in practice.Our conceptualization of trafficking as a business has important implications for the study of migration and for policy makers. For the former, trafficking blurs meaningful conceptual distinctions between legal and illegal migration. For the latter, trafficking presents new challenges in the management and control of migration flows across borders. In particular it suggests the need to look at immigration controls in new ways, placing sharper focus on the institutions and vested interests involved rather than on the migrants themselves.

Getting by in Europe's Urban Labour Markets : Senegambian Migrants' Strategies for Survival, Documentation and Mobility

“…As shown by the terminology, variation exists in the degree of organisation, commercialisation, and exploitation displayed in assisting migrants on their trip. Beyond the help from family members, friends or unknown people, most migrants have to rely on the paid services of intermediaries for forged documents, assistance for crossing borders and the practical organisation of the trip (Adepoju 2005;Salt and Stein 1997). Increasingly the existence of large organisations looking like travel agencies is noted on the market: they recruit clients and offer them a complete package, with a network of local agents responsible for part of the trajectory; these organisations often control the migrant after arriving in the host country, to make sure he pays his debt.…”

Mobilność w czasach zamkniętych granic – notatki z badań terenowych w Serbii

“…Zaobserwowana sytuacja migrantów jest sprzeczna ze sposobem, w jaki są oni przedstawiani w raportach organizacji pozarządowych, wolontariuszy i Frontexu 7 , w których jawią się jako bierni odbiorcy pomocy humanitarnej i ofiary przemytników ludzi. Również niektórzy badacze twierdzą, że migranci tylko podążają za przemytnikami i są pasywnymi uczestnikami tego przedsięwzięcia (Salt, Stein 1997).…”

Human Trafficking in Conflict Zones: The Role of Peacekeepers in the Formation of Networks

“…The formation of human trafficking markets is widely considered to be driven by the possibility of financial gain (Bales 2005;Schloenhardt 1999;Salt and Stein 1997), though some scholars suggest that human trafficking is more appropriately understood as an international crime with features that distinguish it from being merely a morally suspect business (Aronowitz 2001;Schloenhardt 1999). Regardless, scholars of both perspectives agree that the pursuit of profit is the motivating factor in creating and expanding trafficking networks, and, similarly, conceptualize human trafficking as a fundamental human rights violation.…”

“…In other words, where supply is insufficient to satisfy demand, or where demand rises beyond the supply-side capacity of local actors, networks will emerge. Because these networks are driven by the same incentives of legitimate businesses, their behavior can be explained using traditional economic models of supply and demand (Bimal and Hasnath 2000;Schloenhardt 1999, 214;Salt and Stein 1997).…”