On Wednesday the 22nd of January, the European Parliament discussed the role of organised crime in regards to migrant smuggling in the EU. The background of the debate are recent UN reports on criminal networks gaining financial profit by helping migrants cross and enter countries. The reports highlight the human rights violations that occur in migrant smuggling including corruption, sexual exploitation and labour exploitation. Representatives of the Council of the EU and the European Commission layed out their proposals to prevent migrant smuggling, namely fighting disinformation by migrant smugglers, reinforcing the law in origin and transit countries and strengthening Europol (European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation).
Several members of the European Parliament from left-wing and green parties pointed to the cause of migrant smuggling, namely the lack of safe and legal migration routes. According to them, as long as the EU does not provide those migration routes, migrants need to rely on smugglers. MEP Birgit Sippel from the Socialists and Democrats group reminded the Parliament that migrants do not willingly choose to rely on smugglers to come to Europe and thereby subject themselves to physical harm, bribery and rape. Rather, they are forced to do so because a safe path to Europe is increasingly made impossible through measures of member states such as pushbacks, rejections and border closures.
One of the aspects the Council wants to focus on to fight migrant smuggling is to strengthen the cooperation with origin countries. This cooperation is executed for example by providing financial aid to origin countries to help them manage migration. Regarding this point, MEP Melissa Camara from the Greens warned that EU money can instead be used to fund human rights violations in the origin countries. In her view, the EU needs to ensure that their financial aid is not misused.
Ilaria Salis, MEP from The Left group, called attention to the fact that the EU’s efforts to reduce migrant smuggling also affects those offering ethical help to migrants without profit. This includes rescuers at sea as well as humanitarian volunteers.
While the debates on migration in the European Parliament are increasingly becoming hostile and discriminatory, it must be said that there are still a number of MEPs reminding the EU of their obligation to find solutions in agreement with EU values such as the respect for human dignity and human rights.
Sources
https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/agenda/briefing/2025-01-20/15/the-role-of-organised-crime-in-migrant-smuggling-in-the-eu https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/CRE-10-2025-01-22-ITM-014_EN.html https://www.unodc.org/romena/uploads/documents/2024/Links_between_smuggling_of_migrants_and_organized_crime_along_the_Central_and_Western_Mediterranean_routes_Digital_1.pdf