CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Stoyanova, Vladislava Petrova |
|---|---|
| Title | Smuggling of Asylum-seekers. The Cost of Having No Alternative. |
| Summary | The thesis analyses the phenomena of human smuggling from the perspective of asylum-seekers. It addresses the problem of how to view smuggling – as a dangerous crime demanding severe state measures to crack down on it, or as a method of bringing people to safe shores where they can apply for asylum. The latter proposition finds support in the thesis. States justify measures against human smuggling by claiming that migrants are swindled by profiteers, exposed to exploitation and life dangers. However, if human smuggling is, differentiated from exploitation, then states will not have a basis to argue that enhanced border control is justified by humanitarian considerations for the well-being of the migrants. This is the main reason why the thesis argues for keeping the distinction between, from the one hand, human smuggling, as a method of moving people across international borders characterized by the voluntary participation of the migrants, and, from the other hand, human trafficking, which results in human exploitation and is a human rights violation in itself. Another argument used by states to justify measures against human smuggling, namely that human smuggling is a form of international organized crime with mafia like structures, is also challenged in the thesis. Through intensified control measures, which include visas, carrier sanctions, Immigration Liaison Officers and Frontex, aiming at sifting out the undesirable immigrants, asylum-seekers falling within this group, people who seek protection are left with no alternative except to resort to smuggling services in order to enter countries of potential asylum. Since states have undertaken obligations in regard to asylum-seekers and since it is internationally recognized that asylum-seekers should not be penalized for having entered the country of asylum in breach of that country’s immigration laws, any preemptive qualification of asylum seekers, as “illegal immigrants”, economic migrants, “bogus refugees” or criminals would be wrong. Since in Europe the discourse on human smuggling is predominantly concentrated on the arrival of boats crammed with migrants heading from the African to the European shores, the specific case of smuggling to Spain, Italy and Malta through sea is taken and the existence of “invasion” of “illegal immigrants” is questioned. The costs paid by asylum-seekers for using smuggling services include criminal charges, detention, lost of credibility, and limitation of procedural rights. All of these might make the successful recognition as a refugee less likely. However, in light of the lack of alternatives to reach countries where asylum-seekers can be safe and claim asylum, there is a willingness to pay the costs. |
| Supervisor | Boldizsár Nagy |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/stoyanova_vladislava.pdf |
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