Migrant Smuggling

All ASEAN Member States adopted  in 2007 the ASEAN Declaration on the Protection and Promotion of the Rights of Migrant Workers.

The Declaration underlines ASEAN Member States’ commitments to, among others, promote decent, humane, and dignified employment, as well as prevent and curb smuggling and trafficking of persons. Indonesia and ASEAN member states are now working towards the establishment of a legally-binding instrument on the protection of all migrant workers, regardless of their employment status.

Migration is one of the defining features of the 21st century and significantly contributes to economic and social development everywhere. As such, migration will be key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Budapest Process is a good example of cooperation between countries of two regions; Europe and Asia. A successful process, it gathers over 50 countries and more than ten international organisations. It aims to foster dialogue and share best practices in managing migration flows in order to achieve concrete and results-oriented outcomes.

Khartoum Process brings together 40 European, Horn of Africa and Mediterranean African countries, the European External Action Service, the European Commission, the African Union Commission and seven regional organisations, with a view to preventing and tackling the challenges of human trafficking and smuggling of migrants between the Horn of Africa and Europe, in a spirit of partnership, shared responsibility and cooperation. 

Khartoum Process is led by a Steering Committee comprised of:

Following the Valetta Summit on Migration, the EU agreed on the Valetta Action plan --an extensive, balanced and efficient implementation plan built around five priority fields:

• addressing root causes of irregular migration
• promoting legal migration and mobility
• reinforcing of protection
• preventing and fighting smuggling and human trafficking
• strengthening cooperation in return and reintegration.

6Degree.org is a crowdfunding portal to support voluntary return and sustainable integration of human trafficking victims launched in 2015 through a partnership between IOM and Microsoft. The site is backed by Microsoft Azure cloud-computing platform, while IOM provides the resources to help human trafficking victims. The platform meets IOM`s strict requirements for victim privacy and protection and is in place not only help victims, but also to raise awareness for human trafficking and enhance the global commitment to stopping it.

The Bahamas and the Haitian governments signed three agreements intended to further trade development between both countries and lead to a decrease in illegal migration. The agreements include a framework for bilateral cooperation, an agreement on trade and technical cooperation in agriculture and fisheries, and an agreement on the promotion and protection of investments. They cover the “need to create favourable conditions for investments” in both the Bahamas and Haiti, and urged each side to promote possible investments in one another’s private sectors, among other provisions.

In 2012, Ghana adopted the Act 848 which amends the Immigration Act, 2000 (Act 573) to provide for the offence of migrant smuggling. This act defines what migrant smuggling is and the penalties incurring for people engaged in migrant smuggling.

The overall goal of the project is to contribute to Indonesia’s efforts to fight trafficking in persons by strengthening the capacity of the Government and civil society to protect and empower victims of trafficking as well as preventing vulnerable persons from being trafficked.