Smugglers and refugees

Peter Schatzer is cabinet director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. Until last year, he was head of the Mediterranean regional office in Rome. Worldwide, the IOM has around 7,000 employees and is involved in more than 2,000 projects.

Deutsche Welle: According to estimates, there are around 4.5 million people living as undocumented migrants in Europe. How do they arrive?

Peter Schatzer: The majority of irregular migrants are not visible in society. They arrive with falsified documentation or on a tourist visa, whilst others cross land borders with traffickers. Most travel by bus, train or plane, or hidden in trucks or containers. This method is less obvious than landing on a Mediterranean island in a fishing boat along with around 300 others. Refugees who come by boat - even if the number is 20,000 or even 40,000 - account for only a small fraction of irregular migration.

What role do traffickers play?

Because the controls are so rigorous, it would be impossible for most people to make it to Europe without the aid of smugglers, to make it over the borders or the sea. Irregular migrants need someone who is selling a place on a boat or someone giving information on where and how they can cross borders. These are the kinds of services offered by the traffickers and needed by migrants. It fulfils a market function.

How do traffickers operate?

In many different ways. In Asia, there are even travel agencies that organize fake passports with fake visas, which can cost anywhere around 10,000 euros up to 20,000 euros. Most people can't afford such a luxury and many rely on traffickers to get them across borders. Some poor devils have to try earn money as they travel in order to pay for each leg of their journey. For example, a person might make a few hundreds dollars in Afghanistan on their way in order to pay for transportation to the next country. There's quite a broad range.

Can the same be said about the traffickers themselves?

Some types of trafficking are very cruel. Although there are some who offer what can be called a good service, there are also others who will take money from people and not deliver on their promises - or worse, deliver the people to their deaths. We have heard of many cases in which people were in fact held as slaves to work off their smuggling fee.

So is there a connection between irregular immigration and people smuggling?

Of course there is, because there are many irregular migrants who can be victimized because of their vulnerability. Very often, for example, women from poor countries are forced into prostitution, though in some cases they more or less know they'll have to work as prostitutes. They don't expect, however, to face torture or be held prisoner. And forced labor is not restricted to sexual exploitation. It also exists in the agricultural sector and in domestic work.

We continually hear calls for an end to trafficking. How can this be accomplished?

Illegal immigration can help be prevented through the cooperation of the countries of origin, transit and destination. The Spanish territory of the Canary Islands is one such example. However, once one route is blocked, inventive smugglers will find a new way. Profit is their main motive and if security increases then prices also rise.

Setting up a smuggling operation in a relatively poor country like Morocco is possible with a small initial capital outlay. You buy an old boat, spent some money on bribes and perhaps buy a satellite phone, and within a few weeks you can earn several hundred thousand euros.

The truly interesting question is why do so many people risk their lives with smugglers? In Egypt, we've heard of bodies being fished from the sea and being brought back by bus. Then more young people board these very same buses to try for themselves. People know the risks involved and yet they say, "I'll try anyway."

Interviewer: Dennis Stute
Editor: Sean Sinico