Future progress and prospects of the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol

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dc.contributor.authorACHILLI, Luigi
dc.date.accessioned2025-09-04T15:05:28Z
dc.date.available2025-09-04T15:05:28Z
dc.date.issued2025
dc.descriptionPublished online: 18 August 2025
dc.description.abstractThe Smuggling of Migrants Protocol, adopted in 2000 and effective since 2004, is a key international legal framework aimed at combating migrant smuggling as a form of transnational organized crime. Its objectives include preventing smuggling, prosecuting offenders, protecting the rights of smuggled individuals, and fostering international cooperation. While prosecution and repression remain central to the Protocol, its balanced approach also emphasizes the importance of safeguarding migrant rights and facilitating state collaboration.This article critically examines the Protocol’s implementation, with a focus on the European Union as a case study. It explores how states have generally applied the Protocol with a predominant focus on prosecution and repression, often sidelining its objectives related to protection and cooperation. In so doing, the article demonstrates how the neglect of the Protocol’s protection objectives has exacerbated migrant vulnerabilities and often produced unintended criminogenic effects, fuellingexploitative practices and sustaining demand for smuggling services.The article calls for a more balanced approach that integrates effective prosecution and prevention measures with greater emphasis on protection and international cooperation. It suggests that evidence-based policies, expanded legal migration pathways, and rights-based governance are essential to dismantlingsmuggling networks while safeguarding migrants. While it remains uncertain whether such a balance can fully address all challenges, prioritizing protection alongside enforcement represents a necessary step toward achieving the Protocol’s broader objectives and fostering more effective and humane migration governance.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationTransnational criminal law review, 2025, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 90-103
dc.identifier.doi10.22329/tclr.v4i1.9763
dc.identifier.endpage103
dc.identifier.issn2816-847X
dc.identifier.issue1
dc.identifier.startpage90
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1814/93136
dc.identifier.volume4
dc.language.isoen
dc.orcid.putcode1814/79185:191175168
dc.publisherUniversity of Windsor
dc.relation.ispartofTransnational criminal law review
dc.relation.ispartofseries[Migration Policy Centre]
dc.rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
dc.rights.licenseAttribution 4.0 Internationalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.subjectSmuggling of Migrants Protocol
dc.subjectTransnational Organized Crime
dc.subjectCriminalization
dc.subjectMigrant Protection
dc.subjectHuman Trafficking
dc.titleFuture progress and prospects of the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol
dc.typeArticle
dspace.entity.typePublication
person.identifier.orcid0000-0002-8408-7099
person.identifier.other38498
relation.isAuthorOfPublicationd8237ad3-7800-448b-aa8a-cad0cb0f7be7
relation.isAuthorOfPublication.latestForDiscoveryd8237ad3-7800-448b-aa8a-cad0cb0f7be7
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