The European Union's response to smuggling of Syrian asylum seekers: the end of human rights?

• Author: Iovieno, Ilaria

ARTICLE INFO

Issue: 2016 (2).

This article was published on: 16 Jan, 2017.

Keywords: asylum seekers, human smuggling, human trafficking, migrant, organised crime, refugee, Syria, civil war

ABSTRACT

Although the European Union's recent focus has been on human trafficking and its human rights implications, insufficient attention has been devoted to the phenomenon of refugee smuggling, which has exacerbated by the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011. This study investigates the implications of the post-2010 EU anti-smuggling norms and strategies on refugee rights. It focuses on the specific case of Syrians, as they constitute the largest refugee group fleeing into Europe. Along with the available literature, data for this study was collected through a survey of 16 Syrian refugees currently residing in the EU. Firstly, the article presents the modus operandi pertinent to refugee smuggling networks to give an overview of the dimension of the phenomenon. Secondly, by observing the experience of Syrian refugees as they are smuggled across borders, the study highlights practices of pushbacks, inefficient border identifications, prolonged arrests, and the lack of legal means to access the EU territory. To conclude, the study advocates for initiatives to prevent Syrians from colliding with the explored harsh reality and halt smugglers from making a profit out of asylum seekers' dire conditions.

INTRODUCTION

The international community is today witnessing what the Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council has defined as the 'the largest displacement crisis in a generation' (Egeland, 2014). Syria is at the heart of this crisis, where since 2011 a civil war has been ravaging the entire country. Almost half of the population, over 10 million people, have fled their homes and taken refuge in neighbouring countries, including Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq (Egeland, 2014; UNHCR, 2015). (1) In trying to flee from persecution, some Syrian refugees have not stopped there, but risked their lives to embark on dangerous journeys from the Middle East to Europe in hopes of building a new life in a safer place.

In the current period of crisis, while around 1 million Syrians have claimed asylum in the European Union in the last five years, an increasing number of reports of non-governmental organisations are drawing attention to the harsh restrictions experienced by Syrian refugees entering destination countries (UNHCR, 2012; (UNHCR), 2016; Amnesty International, 2014). Many European states have developed practices, adopted regulations and entered international agreements that limit their obligations to asylum seekers and the legal means to access their asylum systems (Hurwitz, 2009). However, in the face of these restrictions, many genuine Syrian asylum seekers have turned to smuggling networks to unlawfully enter and reside within an EU member state, putting their lives in further danger and fuelling the profit-oriented business (European Commission, 2015). (2)

Consequently, the EU has introduced provisions aimed at tackling refugee smuggling. However, these legal constructions coupled with the aforementioned legally inaccessible asylum protection have perpetuated inefficient enforcement measures, identification and control practices. This article attempts to establish to what extent these provisions undermine the refugee framework and the human rights they encompass rather than protect Syrian refugees. The circumstance of Syrian refugees, as currently the largest group of asylum seekers arrested at EU external borders, demonstrates how state action contributes to further refugees' vulnerability and plight (Egeland, 2014).

For the purpose of this article, the discussion has been structured in four main section. Section 2 gives an overview of the modus operandi of smuggling rings, with a focus on those working in countries where Syrians transit to reach Europe. This section is functional for the reader to get a better understanding of how smuggling networks operate and eventually capture the complexity of the phenomenon. Section 3 builds on this by exploring the effects of the provisions on Syrian asylum seekers' human rights. It observes how the inadequacies of the legal framework add to the human rights damage while shedding light on the perpetuated mistaken distinction made between smugglers and refugees. Finally, this article uses primary data obtained from questionnaires distributed among 16 Syrian refugees in 2015, who now reside in the EU (3).

A brief overview of how smugglers operate

As the data on smuggling networks, smugglers and Syrians intercepted at EU external borders is not reliable and often difficult to access, it is difficult to present a clear picture of the business. It is especially difficult to give precise numbers on smugglers involved and asylum seekers using this transnational service. Human smuggling has been widely depicted as a formal business with a hierarchical structure, where there are locally operating individuals who form small networks and work independently as part of a single chain (Bilger, Hofmann and Jandl, 2005, p.63; Di Nicola, 1999, p.1; Shelley, 2014, p.4) (4). Due to their flexible structures which can adapt to changing political circumstances, Europol recognised the changes smuggling organisations had undergone by stating that 'more than 40% of criminal groups have a "network" type of structure, suggesting that criminal groups are becoming more networked than has previously been the case' (Europol, 2013, p.33). Within this system, certain factors have additionally contributed to the criminal organisations' continuing operations, which in turn keep generating a variety of costs for refugees.

As the results of the surveys confirmed, the 'interpersonal trust between the smuggler and the migrants' plays a considerable role in the provision of smuggling services (Icduygu and Toktas, 2002, p.26). Nonetheless, contrary to what Icduygu and Toktas (2002) had recently argued, more than 60% of respondents have declared that these flexible networks are mainly based on kinship and friendship affiliations, not on nationality ties (Survey on Smuggling of Syrian Asylum Seekers to Europe, 2015). Additionally, limited familiarity among smugglers along the smuggling chain seems to be another significant aspect that could determine the success of an operation (Icduygu and Toktas, 2002, p.26). Indeed, smugglers are familiar only with other facilitators from whom they receive migrants and to whom they hand them over (Survey on Smuggling of Syrian Asylum Seekers to Europe, 2015). As the chain is not strongly linked, anytime a smuggler is apprehended, 'the missing link is quickly replaced,' and, since linkages are unknown to each other, the police find it hard to get depositions (Salt, 2000, p.42; Icduygu and Toktas, 2002, p.46).

Throughout their journey, refugees endure dire situations at the hands of their smugglers. In three days on the week of May 29th 2016, at least 700 migrants drowned in three separate shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea (Yardley and Pianigiani, 2016). During the summer and its calmer weather, smugglers send out a high number of unseaworthy vessels loaded with mixed groups of migrants and asylum seekers to European shores (Yardley and Pianigiani, 2016). More recently, Amnesty International reported accounts of abuses, sexual violence and torture on refugees at every stage of the journey by people smugglers (Amnesty International, 2016). The organisation collected this information in detention centres in the Italian regions of Sicily and Apulia showing how costly it has become for migrants and prospective refugees to embark on journeys to Europe (Amnesty International, 2016). Yet, as the interviewees reported, the cost is also monetary for the payments of smuggling services ranging from a few hundred to approximately $6,000 (Survey on Smuggling of Syrian Asylum Seekers to Europe, 2015). Within the economic transaction, distance involved, destination, difficulties gaining entry, complexity of the smuggling operation and circumstances from which asylum seekers are fleeing, are all determining factors (Twomey, 2000).

Refugee smuggling and the European response

Built on the premises of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) (1948), the Refugee Convention (1951), its Protocol (1967) and the United Nations (UN) Smuggling and Trafficking Protocols (2000), the EU regulatory context has attempted to build a common platform of action against organised crime within which member states can operate strict domestic policies for refugees to access EU protection (Carrera and Guild, 2016, p.iii; Scarpa, 2008). (5) However, these legal constructions, focused on prosecuting smugglers and preventing the emergence of transnational criminal activities, have been at the centre of discussions since their adoption, as scholars and human rights agencies...