Organised Crime and People Smuggling/Trafficking to Australia

• NCJ Number: 190159
• Author(s): Rebecca Tailby
• Date Published: May 2001
• Length: 6 pages
• Corporate Author: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Sale Source: Australian Institute of Criminology
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: Australia
• Note: Australian Institute of Criminology Trends & Issues in Crime and Criminal Justice, No. 208, May 2001; downloaded August 2, 2001

Annotation

This paper discusses recent changes in Australian law relating to people smuggling and trafficking, reviews the evidence on those responsible, and evaluates the involvement of organized crime in these activities.

Abstract

The most recent international definition of "smuggling in migrants" appears in the Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea, and Air. The Protocol defines "people smuggling" as "The procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident." "People trafficking," on the other hand, refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, for the purpose of some form of exploitation for profit. Australia has developed an interagency cooperative strategy for countering people smuggling. Currently, there is no Australian team or officer dedicated to the investigation of people trafficking or the related crimes of slavery and sexual servitude. There are a range of operators who facilitate the unauthorized entry of persons into Australia, including migration agents in source countries, corrupt officials, Indonesian boat crews, Chinese criminal operations, Thai syndicates, and Middle Eastern syndicates. In the case of both air and sea smuggling, the common means of illegal entrance into Australia, there is apparently a trend whereby criminal groups focus on their own nationals or on migrants from neighboring geographic areas. In almost all cases of air and sea smuggling, two or more offenders were involved, and they engaged in substantial planning and organization. In the majority of cases, those who facilitate people smuggling and trafficking to Australia can be considered as "organized crime," although they depart from the traditional organized-crime hierarchical structure in being flexible, fluid networks of organizers and facilitators who have various roles. 9 references