Anti-Smuggling Policies and their Intersection with Humanitarian Assistance and Social Trust

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The Project 'Anti-Smuggling Policies and Their Intersection with Humanitarian Assistance and Social Trust' examines from a cross-disciplinary (sociology of law) perspective EU anti-smuggling laws, polices and operational practices and their social effects over the provision of humanitarian assistance by NGOs and citizen volunteers.Smuggling of human beings has become a key priority action in the wider EU policy agenda on transnational organized crime. The ongoing refugee crisis has brought policies against migrant smuggling to the fore of EU and national agendas; and unprecedented budgets are being dedicated to this arena by countries including the UK. Little attention has been paid however to the extent to which current EU actors' policies and practices, which increasingly merge policing, criminal justice and military approaches, are 'fit for purpose' in countering smuggling and their effects on wider trust-based relations in society.More knowledge and facts-based policies are needed as regards the effects of criminalisation of facilitation of entrance and residence on irregular immigrants and asylum-seekers and on the work of NGOs and volunteers, and the extent to which alternative (bottom up) and multidisciplinary strategies and approaches are better suited to effectively address the smuggling phenomenon without undermining fundamental rights and social trust-based relations in the EU.This Project aims at precisely developing this knowledge by mapping the field of 'anti-smuggling policy' agencies and their priorities, approaches and activities, in the production of knowledge at EU levels. It will provide a bridge between current EU policies and actors and the experiences, views and testimonies of civil society organisations and volunteers. This will allow for a better understanding of the scope, nature and effects (and effectiveness) of current EU policy approaches and priorities. The Research Group that has been designed for implementing the project is strongly suited to ensure the highest quality and academic excellence in the research outputs, as well as linking the research results to public policy debates with relevant EU and national policy makers, law enforcement practitioners and civil society representatives. A new Partnership has been established for the purposes of this project composed by Queen Mary London University, CEPS and PICUM. This will ensure a comprehensive coverage of the project objectives and the success of the expected results. CEPS will guarantee the policy relevance and impact of the project results. PICUM will play a decisive role in securing the contributions and involvement of EU and national civil society organisations. The associated risks of policies that seek to tackle transnational crime upon both victims of crime and on host societies is an issue that is gaining increasing attention in scholarship Yet, to date, the impact of anti-smuggling laws and policies on the stakeholders seeking to assist asylum seekers and migrants, including ordinary citizens, remains a hidden narrative. This proposal seeks to rectify this by exploring the impact of transnational anti-smuggling measures on humanitarian assistance and trust-based relations in society. It seeks to make a highly original and timely contribution towards more effective and fundamental rights-compliant policies countering the smuggling in the European Union (EU). The 2015-2016 'refugee crisis' has illustrated the challenges of effectively responding to the phenomenon of smuggling and of fighting against the exploitation of asylum seekers. A key dilemma concerns the need to ensure a clear differentiation between exploitative smugglers and humanitarian actors. The refugee crisis has also shown the lack of effective responses by some national authorities. This has brought many new humanitarian actors into the field; from lifesaving teams to new non-governmental organisations and volunteers.