Overview

The current refugee crisis is the greatest humanitarian problem to have faced the European Union since its foundation. In response, the European Commission adopted a wide-ranging European Agenda on Migration on 13 May 2015. As part of this Agenda the Commission brought forward an EU Action Plan against Migrant Smuggling. The Action Plan sets out four priorities: enhanced police and judicial response; improved gathering and sharing of information; enhanced prevention of smuggling and assistance to vulnerable migrants; and, stronger cooperation with third countries. The aim of this inquiry was to look at the efficacy of the Action Plan ahead of the European Commission's own review of the legislation on migrant smuggling, which will be published in 2016 along with proposed reforms. Migrant smuggling is a serious criminal activity, but the Commission has rightly sought to place the Action Plan within the context of a broader approach to migration. The nature of migrant smuggling needs to be properly understood in order to develop an adequate and appropriate response. Evidence suggests that a majority of those currently entering the EU as irregular migrants are 'prima facie refugees', as defined by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. It is, therefore, important that as much focus is placed on the humanitarian aspects of the crisis as on law enforcement. At the same time, we support the high priority that is being given to guarding against migrant smuggling for the purpose of committing terrorist acts. Migrant smuggling is a complex and little understood phenomenon. It can involve organised criminal gangs at one end of the spectrum, and local groups, including groups of migrants themselves, who may have humanitarian motives, at the other. The Action Plan needs to recognise this complexity.

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