Migrant smuggling in the Eastern Mediterranean : the case of children

Abstract

Despite the growing visibility of this phenomenon, scant research has been conducted on children’s migration patterns and/or their interactions with smuggling networks. The present contribution provides insights into minors’ trajectories and their communications with smugglers and in so doing seeks to contribute to developing effective policy practices to prevent the exploitation of children on the move. This, however, demands an acknowledgement that the smuggling of children is often a desperate attempt to protect them on the part of the adults who care for them. In that sense, it is also fundamental to understand that smuggling practices are often grounded in community-based notions of cooperation and support (Achilli, 2018, Vogt 2018). When minors’ exploitation occurs, this is more often the consequence of a protracted condition of deprivation and irregularity, emerging from their lack of recognized status, than it is a product of the criminal intent of mafia-like organizations.