More refugees turning to human smugglers – report

United Nations University

20 June 2003

refugees3The institution of asylum is “under grave threat” as nations erect ever-higher walls during the war on terrorism, leading many asylum seekers to engage human smugglers as their only means of potentially reaching sanctuary, according to a new analysis from the United Nations University.

Published by UNU Press and launched on World Refugee Day, June 20, the book Refugees and Forced Displacement says that while most decision-makers believe human smuggling is characterized by the illegal transportation of economic migrants, it is estimated more than half of those smuggled into Europe are seeking asylum — many of them people who feel imperiled and persecuted for their race, religion, nationality, membership in a social group or political beliefs.

Contributing expert Khalid Koser of University College London, says the rapid rise in human smuggling reflects in part “an unintended consequence of restrictive asylum policies.” Governments have tried to deter asylum seekers by designating “safe” countries of origin whose citizens are effectively precluded from asylum, visa regulations, sanctions against smugglers, shifting the burden of assessing and processing claims to adjoining territories, physical closing of borders, detention of asylum seekers, and the withdrawal of welfare support.

Those who have the capacity to extend security to people perilously lacking it have a basic human obligation to do so,” says editor Edward Newman of UN University. However, there has been a “shift from the protection of asylum seekers to protection from them.”

Said UNU Rector Hans van Ginkel: “Accommodating the needs of asylum seekers and refugees is an important moral responsibility for the world community. However, as we mark World Refugee Day 2003, it is clear that the start of a war on terror and other developments have shut the doors of sanctuary to many people in need of shelter from religious and political persecution, or from bloody violence and conflict. Raising international awareness of these problems is critical to their solution and we hope this book makes an important contribution in that regard.”

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