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Trafficking in Immigrants: A European Perspective

NCJ Number
193329
Author(s)
Andrea Di Nicola
Date Published
1999
Length
19 pages
Annotation
This essay examines whether there are organized criminal groups involved in the trafficking of migrants in Europe, the routes most widely used for trafficking, and how the trafficking is organized.
Abstract
In addressing these issues, the essay considers the roles played in trafficking scenarios by Western, Central, and Eastern European states, sometimes as sending and sometimes as transit or destination countries. Information is provided on the most common offenses committed by those engaged in migrant trafficking. This study found evidence that such trafficking, when it involves organized criminal organizations, is a dangerous enterprise, because it links an international criminal dimension to a local one. This is due to the practice of exploiting migrants in the local criminal markets of the destination countries, such as the drug trade, prostitution, and theft. The second part of this essay provides guidelines for establishing a feasible and comprehensive strategy for countering migrant trafficking. The basic recommendation is that there be country-by-country tailor-made interventions. This is because some Central and Eastern European countries are the primary sending countries or are selected as transit places from which to recruit migrants before moving them to Western European destination countries. Each country must therefore identify the particular manifestations of migrant trafficking within its borders and develop appropriate responses, with the total European effort being coordinated internationally. 27 references