People trafficking: Europe's new problem
Human smuggling is the
fastest growing criminal business in the world, according to
under-secretary-general Pino Arlacchi, the head of the UN Office for
Drug Control and Crime Prevention. Although images of ships barely
able to stay afloat and laden with illegal immigrants are focusing
world attention on the question of shipborne illegal immigration, it
is just the tip of the iceberg.
Most clandestine entries into the European Union (EU) are made over
land. Public awareness of the problem was dramatically raised on 22
June this year by the discovery of a truck in the UK port of Dover
which, apart from its officially declared cargo of tomatoes, carried
60 illegal Chinese immigrants - all but two of whom had suffocated to
death. While this was a wake-up call for the UK, it is a daily
occurrence for the eastern-most members of the EU - Germany, Austria
and Italy, and the only member state that is not within the
contiguous EU area - Greece.
The immigrants
The bulk of illegal immigrants who make it into the EU without work
permits are either from Eastern Europe or Asia. There are two
distinct groups within the Eastern Europeans. The first is made up of
citizens from the former Soviet republics, mostly Ukraine, with
Russia trailing far behind. According to some reports, up to 200,000
people in the Kyiv region alone are waiting to cross.
Other immigrants from Eastern Europe include Albanians, who almost
exclusively travel to southern Italy by boat, and the ‘overland
nations’: Romanians, Moldovans and Roma (Gypsies). The number of
immigrants from the war-torn countries of former Yugoslavia is almost
insignificant - most of those nations have large expatriate
communities living as legal residents, or even citizens, of various
EU countries, which allows them to support the visa applications of
their friends and family. Bosnians and Kosovars who entered the EU as
refugees are now returning home as domestic conditions improve. Other
eastern European countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Slovenia and Croatia) enjoy liberal visa-free travel to the EU,
eliminating the need for illegal entry.
Statistics indicate that Turks form the greatest number of illegal
immigrants among the Asian groups. However, the Chinese are catching
up fast, with Iranians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Iraqis making up
the rest. The situation is complicated by the fact that a large
proportion of the illegal immigrants officially declared as
‘Turks’ on the basis of their citizenship are actually
Kurds whose status is often blurred between immigrants, and economic
and political refugees. The main obstacle in examining illegal
immigration is that the exact size of the problem is unknown and can
only be estimated from the numbers who fail to reach their final
destination. The EU admits that it is in need of manpower to fill a
range of jobs - mostly unskilled. The domestic EU population, which
is getting more affluent while growing statistically older, will be
unable to provide the necessary manpower to maintain the levels
achieved. Official estimates indicate that up to 35 million
‘extracommunitarians’ will have to be admitted into the EU
by 2025. However, evidence suggests that there is a high degree of
official hypocrisy: most illegal immigrants quickly find jobs, even
if their immigration and labour status remains unresolved. Even those
countries where anti-immigrant rhetoric is strong officially admit
that they need them.
The organisation
Organising illegal immigration is an attractive prospect for many who
have access to appropriate transport and the proper paperwork needed
to cross the borders, or who happen to live in a border area. It is
often far more attractive than traditional high-yield criminal
activities like drugs or weapons smuggling as it does not require
special technology nor a distribution network.
In a number of transit countries, organising illegal immigration
constitutes a minor infraction rather than a criminal offence.
Payment is made up-front and there is no obligation to the clients in
case of failure. There is also a high degree of determination on the
part of the illegal immigrants, who will often try repeatedly until
they succeed. One police officer combating illegal immigration
described the trade: "Your wares come to you without any need to
search or advertise, they stick to a code of silence and if you get
caught the evidence against you tries to run away."
Police experience from several countries indicates some consistent
patterns: people smugglers tend to steer clear from other illegal
activities. They do not normally smuggle drugs or arms. Where
possible they will use alternatives to established routes to increase
their chances of success.
But several aspects of illegal immigration are beginning to worry the
experts. Unlike many other criminal activities it is accessible to
amateurs. Border guards in several countries consider that their
success rate is lowest where ‘occasional smugglers’, who do
not have a pattern or an identifying modus operandi, are
involved.
People smuggling usually starts as an ‘opportunity crime’ -
a truck driver on an attractive route will succumb to a smuggling
request and, if successful, will try again until reaching a point
where smuggling people becomes more attractive than his main job.
Likewise, on many borders local villagers quickly discover that they
can make money by leading groups on foot across the border in remote
areas that they know well or by arranging a quick boat ride across a
river.
The relatively uncomplicated organisation attracts local petty
criminals and more serious organised criminals who tend to put the
‘occasional offenders’ under their control. In many cases
governments, or at least the more overtly corrupt officials, get
involved and networks are quickly established. The only exception
from the rule that illegal immigration tends not to go hand-in-hand
with other criminal activities is prostitution. The similar
organisational requirements for smuggling newly-recruited
prostitutes, mainly from Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Ukraine,
means that it shares the same pattern as the smuggling of economic
migrants.
The routes
Most illegal immigrants into the EU have, and use, a passport. They
tend to approach intermediaries in the last country that they can
reach without a visa. Information on channels is usually by
word-of-mouth. Those who make it into the EU pass on the details and
contacts once they are safe.
Although it shares a long border with Germany, Poland does not have a
significant problem with illegal immigration. This seems to be due to
the country’s relatively strict entry controls, combined with
even stricter controls on the German border and the configuration of
the border itself.
Poland’s southern neighbours, the Czech Republic and Slovakia,
are less fortunate: the former wedges deep into Germany, with wooded
hills on both sides providing ideal cover for clandestine crossing;
the latter’s eastern and southern borders with Ukraine, Romania
and Hungary make it a good transit country. A short stretch of border
with Austria affords Slovakia direct access to the EU, although the
border itself is not easily accessible. However, the high volume of
traffic bound for Vienna makes the use of trucks possible. One
advantage for the people smugglers is the weakly-controlled border
between the two parts of the former Czechoslovakia. While it has
recently been reinforced from the Czech side by the posting of 380
officers, that number can hardly do much to stem the flow.
Hungary is perfect transit country. On one side Romanians enter
freely, and the border is long and easy to cross, like those with the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), Croatia and Slovenia further to
the south, and the western border with Austria. Since the wars in the
former Yugoslavia and the trade embargo have diverted most of Western
Europe-bound truck flow to routes through Hungary, the volume of
cargo traffic allows for large numbers of illegal crossings. Of the
41,502 illegal immigrants caught trying to enter Austria in 1999,
over 80% came either directly from or through Hungary. Apart from
East Europeans, Asians are increasingly using this route.
In early August, 46 people were discovered in a state of
near-asphyxiation during a routine Hungarian border check of a
15-person capacity van. They included nationals of Afghanistan,
Somalia, India and Nepal. A particular problem for the Hungarians are
the Chinese. Budapest boasts a near 100,000-strong, well-established
Chinese community. Hungarian Border Police suspect that passports of
legal residents are taken back to China and used to bring others into
the country. Once they legally enter Hungary, they continue westwards
illegally.
Romania perfects the role of an originating and a gathering country.
With a common border with Moldova and Ukraine, it is accessible and
visa requirements are lax. The final resort is illegal crossing.
Romanians themselves go directly to Hungary or the FRY, benefiting
from the presence of national minorities on both sides of the mutual
borders which means that both countries are unlikely to impose visas.
Sofia has seemingly been least affected by the sudden growth of this
illegal activity. Bulgaria has always been an important link on the
Bosphorus-Western Europe drugs route. Police and customs officials
therefore check vehicles meticulously, and their task is made easier
by the very small number of major road crossings - one with Turkey,
two with Greece, Romania and Macedonia, and only three with Serbia.
In the case of Bulgaria, Germany is trying to fight illegal
immigration away from its own borders and as close to the originating
countries by donating over US$1 million worth of equipment - 60 sets
of night-vision binoculars and a few four-wheel drive vehicles. More
has been pledged. Gas analysers, which can detect an excess of carbon
dioxide inside a vehicle as a product of human exhalation, have
proved useful and have led to several discoveries. Bulgarian National
Border Police Service (NSGP) officials admit that they are lucky that
the border with Greece is quite rugged and inaccessible. However,
despite the fact that local populations on either side of the border
are reluctant to engage in illegal activities, the number of
incidents is increasing.
Since the end of the wars, the countries of the former Yugoslavia
have experienced a sudden and dramatic increase of illegal
immigration transit. The usual reasons are poor economies and
regional disparities, but also political divisions, lack of
co-operation between neighbouring states and the existence of
well-established criminal connections created during the wars to
trade on the black markets.
Landlocked Macedonia is politically focused on sealing its northern
and western borders with Kosovo and Albania. This leaves its eastern
border with Bulgaria and its southern one with Greece with almost no
cover, while the northern border with Serbia has always been porous.
Thus there is heavy pressure on the routes leading from Serbia and
Bulgaria into Greece through Macedonia. Some 616 illegal crossings
were discovered in the first six months of this year. Passage into
Greece is usually made on foot through the Vardar plain. Greek
authorities find it hard to seal off the whole northern border: they
have prioritised the Western one with Albania where most imported
crime originates.
Bordering seven countries (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Macedonia,
Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia) and indirectly, through
UN-mandated Kosovo with Albania, Serbia would have a tough job if it
decided to seriously tackle the problem of people smuggling. However,
there seems to be a conscious decision by Belgrade to allow illegal
immigrants to pass through the country because of the financial
benefits for the deprived Serbian population.
There may also be a more important reason for Serbia’s attitude.
Ostracised by the international community, Serbia is eager to prove
that it is an important regional actor and that no problem can be
solved in the long term without its participation. It thus chooses
not to patrol its borders rigorously - except those with Kosovo for
security considerations, and Montenegro for internal political
reasons, and also to enforce the undeclared economic embargo. For its
part Serbia does not treat its border with Bosnia as a
‘real’ border, but more of an imposed ‘boundary’
line with the Bosnian Serbs. This fact makes the Drina river the most
porous of all the borders in the region, with local fishermen willing
to ferry across anyone willing to pay US$100 per head.
Far more serious is Serbia’s role in the illegal immigration of
Chinese expatriates. Although the Serbian opposition has made
exaggerated claims of up to 60,000 Chinese residents in Belgrade, in
reality the number seems to be just over 15,000. For the Chinese,
Serbia is an intermediate point before arriving - illegally - in the
West. The best established routes into Europe are through Hungary
into Austria and the alternative through Bosnia, Croatia and
Slovenia. In June Hungarian Interior Minister Sandor Pinter claimed
that his border guards "in the previous months caught an average
100-150 Chinese trying to enter illegally from Serbia". With the
success rate usually estimated at 15-20%, this would indicate that
some 500 Chinese try to cross every day from Serbia alone.
Bosnia-Herzegovina is another entry point for aerial entry of
potential illegal immigrants. During the war, when the central
government in Sarajevo was effectively under the control of Muslim
leader Alija Izetbegovic, Bosnia abolished visas for several
countries, including Iran, Turkey and Malaysia. The regulation is
still in force. Iranians and Kurds from Turkey use the opportunity to
fly into Sarajevo legally from Istanbul, and then try to get into the
EU. The route is already so well established that contacts can be
made either in Istanbul or at the airport, or in many other locations
in the country.
The country is divided into two ‘entities’, each with their
own police forces. The UN-imposed State Border Service is still only
in the process of formation, having taken over the first four
crossings in early August. All the borders of Bosnia used to be
internal Yugoslav borders, so they are not demarcated, and the people
are used to free movement. According to Deputy High Representative
for Bosnia Jacques Klein there are 400 road crossings - and only a
small portion of these are official. Klein has challenged the
official figures that 1,000 illegal immigrants were caught in the
first half of this year, believing the figure to be three times
higher. The ‘aerial’ immigrants are joined by those who
cross the Drina river from Serbia to reach Croatia and then move
further west. The task is easy. The Sava river on the northern border
is easily crossed by boat and the western borders are scarcely
populated and poorly patrolled as a result of the fighting between
1992-95.
Despite its declared willingness to combat illegal crossings, Croatia
faces a difficult task, with its elongated shape and over 1,500km of
land border. The police are needed in the former Krajina area to
thwart ethnic tension between Serbs and Croats and cannot check each
potential crossing point. In some areas, like in Koprivnica in the
northern plains shared with Hungary, the forces of the Interior
Ministry (ministarstvo unutarnjih poslova - MUP) instituted a
horse-mounted unit to patrol the depth of the territory. However, the
MUP records an unprecedented rise in illegal crossings - 1,474 cases
involving 5,052 persons in the first six months of 2000 - almost
equal to the whole of 1999. The eastern, Danube, border with Serbia
is also showing a rise in cases.
The Croatian police are far from perfect. A police officer was caught
in August smuggling 21 Turks and six Iranians in a trailer. The only
section of the border not being used for illegal crossings is the
long Adriatic coast. Speedboat runs across the Adriatic would present
a problem for the Italian authorities who are already stretched.
The ultimate hurdle before the EU on the southern Balkans route is
Slovenia. Its long border with Croatia includes sparsely populated
woodlands in the southeast, easily accessible hills in the northeast
and tourist areas in the south. The border with Hungary is relatively
short and controllable while the almost-impassable Alps on Italian
and Austrian borders allow limited crossing opportunities along
mountain passes. This forces most immigrants to the plains above the
Italian coastal city of Trieste.
Slovenian statistics indicate that figures from Bosnia and Croatia
are misleading - the Interior Ministry (ministrstvo za notranje
zadeve - MNZ) records 18,695 illegal crossings in 1999 and 11,876 in
the first six months of 2000. As the MNZ clearly detects the growing
contribution of the Belgrade and Sarajevo aerial routes, it is
obvious that most of those would have to come through Bosnia and
Croatia. Assuming that only up to 20% are caught, this would put the
figure near 100,000 per year. This figure is likely to increase
further from September, when Slovenia starts applying Schengen rules
on its eastern borders in preparation for EU membership - tougher
entry requirements will force more would-be EU workers to cross
illegally.
Albania, with an outlet to the Adriatic, continues to present a
serious problem. Most immigrants from the country are Albanian
naturals, but the percentage of foreigners who reach Albania overland
is growing. They cross almost exclusively by boats to Italy, where
public patience is running thin following the deaths of two Finance
Guard officers when their boat was rammed by smugglers. Boat-runners
often throw their human cargo overboard to avoid capture. In 1999,
170 illegal immigrants drowned at sea.
The only country that is not currently a main channel for illegal
immigration, Montenegro, also presents a potential problem. It stands
on a possible land route between Albania, Bosnia and Croatia, which
is currently unused due to a general atmosphere of tenson and heavy
presence of the Yugoslav Army (Vojska Jugoslavije - VJ). However, the
second potential problem is that Montenegro unilaterally abolished
visas for all foreigners in February 1999. The national carrier,
Montenegro Airlines, does not fly to any originating countries, but
the possibility of Podgorica becoming another aerial entry point
following its possible separation from Belgrade remains.
The real economic magnitude of fees charged to facilitate illegal
immigration is often underestimated. Based just on the figures of
illegal immigrants caught entering Austria, over 40,000 in 1999,
using a rough estimate of the passage costing $2,500 per head
(figures reported vary from $1,000 for a passage from Romania to
$15,000 for the one from Iran) the figure is a staggering $100
million, just for the recorded cases for one year for one country
alone.
If the number of illegal immigrants were equal to the number of
asylum requests into the EU (365,000 in 1999, of which 70,000 in UK
alone), that alone would give a sum of over $900 million that changed
hands in one year alone. Evidence suggests that the actual ratio is
no less than 3:1. Thus the end sum is in the region of $3 billion per
year. Without taking into account the directly associated costs
(immigrant centres, repatriation costs, asylum seeker costs) this
clearly makes this activity - which in some countries is not even
classified as a crime - a serious problem for Europe.