The Smuggling of Asylum Seekers into Western Europe: Contradictions, Conundrums, and Dilemmas
/Khalid Kose/
ľm writing this introduction on Tune 19. zmmm, the dav of ihe-tragic dis-covery of fifty-eight dead migrants in the back of a truck in the port town of Dover in the United Kingdom. Although clearly their motivations and intentions will now never be known, these migrants have quickly come to be described in the media as '^svium^eekers." However inaccurate this description may be, the events in Dover have certainly brought to the attention of the media, public, and politicians a phenomenon that seems to have .hqen growing over the past decade '" TRW™ Europe—the .smue-
,r|inĽ ot asylum stokers.                                                                        _____
, As ťarlv as"i994Tit,was ťsCjmaiCQ-LbaLjiĽtwť^ň iid,doo ant) 1 ao^uö^ asylLHTľJSľgli^rFT^TŕEeinfi smuga,ledjntti Western Európe annualtyTWitT gren,^994), and.there is a growing consensus that an increasing proportion of asylum seekers continues to be smuggled. The smuggling of asylum seekers presents a range of conceptual and policy challenges, which have been made all the more difficult to cope with given the shortage of empirical data. This chapter presents findings from one of the only research surveys conducted among smuggled asylum seekers in Western Eu-
rope (Koser, 1997b). It tries to address some of the crucial questions surrounding the smuggling of asylum seekers: Is smuggling necessarily an evil? Is it really a new phenomenon? And why are policymakers finding it so hard to come to terms with smuggling?
The study of smuggling is still in its infancy, and there is a lack of consensus about concepts, definitions, and terminology. One distinction that does seem to be emerging, both in the literature and in policy instruments, is between the concept of "trajfi^kjng" and the concept of ilsamgghjig." The trafficking of human beings is increasingly associated with coercion, exploitation, deception, violence, and physical or psychological abuse. The majority of the literature on trafficking, for example, has focused on women and prostitution. In contrast, smuggling is being defined simply as the illicit movement of people across international boundaries. According to this distinction, trafficking is a human rights issue, whereas
Smuggling is a migration JSSUf ^alt and Hogarth   -)r.r.n)
This chapter, which focuses on a case study of Iranian asylum seekers smuggled to the Netherlands, takes issue with this distinction. There isjio evidence flf ^fiyon or violence or that the respondents were subsequently placed in exploitative industries in the Netherlands. Still, the smuggling exposed many of them to increased insecurity and vulnerability: in other words, smuggling can be both a migration and a human rights issue.
The chapter is structured around this expansion of the concept of smuggling. In the first part, the smuggling of asylum seekers is analyzed as a migration issue. Empirical evidence on the interaction between smugglers and asylum seekers is combined with a broader analysis of the changing policy context in Western Europe to lend credence to the common assertion that an increasing proportion of asylum seekers are being forced to employ smugglers in order to escape their home countries and reach a country of asylum. In the second part, smuggling is analyzed as a human rights issue. It shows how the asylum seekers in this survey were exposed to forms of political, economic, and social insecurity as a direct consequence of smuggling. Although the phenomenon may not be new, there are qualitative differences from earlier periods, specifically relating to the changing composition of asylum seekers, the growing organization of smuggling, and the changing purposes of smuggling.
60............Historical and Conceptual Approaches
Seeking Asylum in Western Europe:
The Changing Political Context                                             ________
Analysis of the changing political context for jsyium seektrrs in \ em Europe, combined with analysis of data on asylum applications,^ vides some insight into the interactions between smuggling and isyli In simple terms, asylum in Western Europe can be thought of as havia moved through three phases over the past thirty years. During the ijrfl! and 1970s—and particularly before the "oil crisis" 0/ 1573—thm two distinct legal migration channels into Western Eur opt, one fe migrants and another for refugees. The majority of refugees at iura were accepted in Western Europe on the basis of a " q unto"
(Troeller, 1991).
As economic recession and an environment of ire trench meat Western Europe during the mid-1970s, the demand fur overseas dried up, and most of the formal routes for labor jnip.ratmn—ii pie, through recruitment agreemencs with particular coiiiirrius of nrigii -were closed over the following decade (Cornelius, Mam::. an.l I i 1994). In retrospect, it is quite clear that one of the unintcti L(ijcnces of these policies was to force economic migrants into the.: • channel—which had become the only remaining legal channel fur into Western Europe. Such an analysis goes a Ion p way to wait!    . ing the data presented in figure z, which show luiw asylum applies«« :n the main asylum countries in the liuropean Union (E-.t i:■, and aero ■■:.-EU as a whole, grew steadily through the late 19Sos, tu an overají in ťfájjbí more than^Tz^ooSfepphcations. The convergence in ihcarg lum channel ot refugees and economic migrants has nutormusly pressm policymakers with great problems of clarification, and many eights activists are concerned lhát at least sonic genuine asylum daiiiuqd have been ignored as the obsession with filtering out so-called'I)
refugees has grown.
f in-,»; m r.vii™»'/'1 ňňy ntmjňf^ ,*ndrÁt} ňnpiKxy/cm that äi&
across Western Europe during :he miďi 990s to rry to piacejesn-iciioní upon asyium. One set ot policies was aimed at reducing the scale of asylum migration. This weluded the imposition or visas upon citizens from a growing list of countries, the promotion of so-called safe havens, the re- I
Smuggling Asylum Seekers Into Western £urope
IW*      1990     1B01      life     1«13     19M     IMS
Annual Asylum Applications m Selected EU Member States, 158B-19S9
CT Futostet. Wife: "Rest of f ij" is an estimate.
.61
qairrment that asylum Seekers submit their applications at a consulate or raibiisy in their country of origin ("i n -c t j im try p roeessm^"). and carrier íanctiaás-These combined with another set oir policies targeted on changing spatial distribution of asylum applications, and specio"cal]y_un di-ationsfrom Western Europe Perhaps the best example is the mission Agree m cm s signed on a bilateral basis between cauiiirJt^^cátcTTTaTidTCHfrräl or Eastern Europe, whi
___________^_                jncilitaicü
the reruriť oFäsý hi m "seekers from the former 10 tire latter (King,, x 954). Mm yčoTTlrn e iicators agjeetbat t be combined tíťect oi stich policies was to teducfc Ail dumber t>\ ai^Vum apjAuiatiims across ^Wtstetvi EAVtflPC alter

.ihc-PCakoE t.nqxl^.C,^.^ ttina.V\rwy^ia(iy. Sah,  lo^nwi: a\\ the
countries oi tVve vLutopca.n Union, iVvls decrease vjas iatri^ uta matic, and jppnr.a^»ns had mote t\ianjialvel by iga&^&t the same time, the data in figure z indicate that across all the main EU countries of asylum except Germany, and across the EU as a whole, asylum applications began to re-
■_
)
62
Historical and Conceptual Approaches bound in the late 1990s. This has been particularly sigfli
United Kingdom, where estimates for asylum applications in ^ 959 a returned to the historical high in 1991.
/
s' One interpretation of these data íšlHar, fust as dosing doivajhe Ufa migration channel forced ťvnnomicjiiij-rancs inm rhe asylum rhacr.dirľ creasing restrictions upglljhjsjisylnm channel are now fnrj-j ryr_ fi<;y)i;nr /
•1 e k t i- :ni" .. neu: illc^LiI .^Miiikl. An J 1 in [ndjcadt>iih. ;re duli tliii'iijfŕ nel is increasingly monopolized by smugglers and rrarnc Iters.
Thirty-two Iranian Asylum Seekers
To illustrate these trends better, this section d jaws on a scp.es flfa depth interviews conducted with thirty-twu Iranian asylum seekers in tl Netherlands, over a ptriüduiabuut a year in 3996 and ijjy?. Interne* data were supplemented by information gathered during open-ended dir-fissions with opinion fuimers and representatives from inside tlieasylua' seeker populations. The mtcr^ietation of such qualitative data isslwijv difficult and perhaps more so where the respondents can be con-idetiii vulnerable, as in tlie case ur asylum seekers. It is, therefore, helpful m rar: derstand the circumstances of the respondents and co assess die vallJiij of the data in this light.
The respondents were interviewed in two Aziekoekerscentra (A.■'■ Asylum Seeker Centers) in the Netherlands, Twenty-one were wumoj the majority aged between twenty and thirty-ßve. This predo m mance at young&i</JhngÁ?_resffc/nďenis re/fects gmte c/ose/ytňe demofirjphk ironspos/tJon of the Iranian populations in tJic rwa AZCs visited. H though it is a reversal or the gender profík' oř Iranian asylum seekers in Dutch AZCs as a whole. Asylum seekers in AZCs have already passed through two earlier interview procedures in Aanmeldcentra (ACS, Initial Reception Centers), then Opvang en onderzoekscentra (OCS, Reception and Assessment Centers), and are at the stage where they are awaiting the outcome of a full assessment of their claims for asylum, or in some cases appeals against previous assessments. All the respondents had left Iran between one and two years prior to the interviews, and the length of time spent in the AZC ranged from just one week in one case to eighteen months in another.
This context imposed restrictions upon the interviewing procedure and

Smuggling Asylum Seekers into Western Europe.                     63
íubsĽífuently upon data analysis. Several respondents did not speak En-sh, which is my mother tongue. There was also a more general prob-i u f trust, operating in two d e recti n ns. The respondents were generally and.understandably reluctant to discuss issues that might directly affect ■d.iims for asylum. An the same ume, given that they had already been ofhdal | y im e f viewed a number of tunes by the lime 1 interviewed them in tilt AZCs, several respondents appeared to be "practiced" at interviews, responding.appropriately as opposed to necessarily accurately.
lumber of strategies were adopted in response to such difficulties. Fur approximately one-quarter of the interviews, the assistance of an jittrpreicT was necessary. In each AZC more than one interpreter was Employed, as an attempt to cuunter the problems that can arise when a single mterpreitr becomes ton closely associated in the eyes of a study la rion wi th a research ei. The interpreters were all drawn from within í Iranian asylum setter populations within the AZCs; the assumption thai respondents might be even less forthcoming in the presence of two '"outsiders," namely, an external interpreter and me. In most cases r pander or the interpreter matched the gender of the respondent. During the interviews, anonymity was guaranteed, this method being em-I abujr with several other techniques to attempt to secure a degree of trust among the respondents. Despite such methodological safeguards, reservations clearly surround the validity of the data gathered. The fol-inp analysis therefore focuses on excerpts from selected interviews with only eight resn undents ,,vju\i viWim\kfcc a oaiUcaWty good, tampon was estaYfli&Wi
Smuggling as a Migration Issue
Twenty-nine of the thirty-two respondents admitted during our interviews that smugglers had been involved in at least parts of their tourneys between Iran and tneNetherlands. Smugglers were involved in three main ways: in exit strategies, in planning routes, and in entry strategies.
Exit Strategies
Nineteen of these twenty-nine respondents reported that smugglers had helped them to leave Iran, and three main exit functions were cited. First,
64                    .. Historical and Conceptual Approaches
smugglers reportedly concealed eight of the respondents, who said that they were in immediate danger of being arrested. All eight were in Tehran when they contacted smugglers, and half were taken outside Tehran to be concealed, while the other half were hidden within Tehran. One respondent had remained in hiding for about a month, waiting for his contact to make the necessary arrangements to smuggle him out of Iran.
Of eighteen respondents who were willing to provide detailed information about their journeys, six reported flying directly out of Tehran. A second function that smugglers served, for these six specifically, was to organize flight tickets and travel documents. In each case the travel documents were reported to have been forged, and the names on the tickets false, in order to try to ensure that the respondents were not intercepted at the airport. The other twelve respondents left Iran by land, most over the western border with Turkey, but three spent more than a week travel-ing eastward to the border with Pakistan. Only four said that they exited Aran through formal border crossings, and for these four, forged~čľocu-tments were also apparently provided. For the remaining eight a third exit i function that smugglers had served was to move them clandestinely across / the border.
The respondents generally agreed that it is easy to find smugglers in Irgju Several respondents reported having already known smugglers either personally or indirectly through other people, and others suggested that smugglers could be found on certain days in certain bazaars in most large cities in Iran, but especially in Tehran. In the cases of three respondents, their journeys had been organized by relatives already living in J Western Europe—in two cases in Germany, and in one in the United King-/ dom. In these cases smugglers had apparently been contacted directly in / Germany and the United Kingdom, and the respondents in Iran had then /   been approached by their agents. It is particularly interesting to note that several of the more recent arrivals among the respondents intimated that the function of smugglers is increasingly being transformed from one of 'fariliteůon—sinmlvjawanding-rn rftrmnnd—třemení- FeupuHraent and cünttofTSiiiuafilgfs now apparently .advertise tbeir a;rv'rfht in certain" newspapers in Iran and are reported to be terming a virtual monopoly over rhe supply n f forged documents and over clandestine Jiordtrr cros^'' ings, so that in effect they can select who leaves Iran illegally
Smuggling Asylum Seekers into Western Europe..............65
Migration Routes
A second broad function that smugglers served was to organize the migration routes of most of the respondents. The geography of migration routes between Iran and the Netherlands fell into four broad categories (table i)/TRe~fiisl laleguiv cuvexeďthTee respondents, who reportečťrhaj they had flown directly from Iran to the Netherlands. In contrast, all the rpmaininy; rfsp^ndftnts said that they had arrived in the Netherlands via^ Vatleasr one other country. rhrafretSórtéči having flown directly trom Iran to Ľither ttomaniiTüt Hungary, from where two subsequently traveled by plane and one overland to the Netherlands. A third category similarly involved a two-step route and covered five respondents who flew to the Netherlands from Turkey or Pakistan, to which neighboring countries they had initially been smuggled from Iran. The remaining seven respondents (of the eighteen who provided detailed information about their journeys) reported a three-step route, involving travel initially to either Turkey or Pakistan, then to either Romania or Hungary, and finally on to the Netherlands.
As table i shows, the time taken to travel between Iran and the Netherlands generally varied according to the route taken. Several respondents whose migration route involved three stages reported the total journey lasting more than a month. In one case a respondent reported having stayed in Romania for nearly three months while his contact there obtained a false passport for him. The implications particularly of long periods of time spent en route between Iran and the Netherlands are returned to in the next section, as for several respondents they became sources of both
legal and economic insecurity.__________________________■______
^""The relatively restricted number of routes reported may be an indie
tion that a linntĽľnuralfŕr"orrtjutcsHiave beatme weir establishľJ ai maintained by smuggler^-rTwas reported that ,1 close international net-*atcd along ihesĽ routes. Most respondents were accompanied on each stage of their journey and responsibility for them then handed on to another contact in the next destination. Interestingly, one respondent told me that a friend had been smuggled from Iran to the Netherlands about three years before she had and that that friend had come through a quite different route, via Spain. The implication may be
"
66                       •• Historical and Conceptual Approaches
Table 1. Migration Routes
Number of Steps
1 2 2
Route
Iran-Netherlands
Iran-Romania/Hungary-Netherlands
Iran-Turkey/Pakistan-Netherlands
Ti™        N. imi :-;;■: .in U2V5Í    flesper,dr(3
1
3-15
5-Zn
n
Iran-Turkey/Pakistan-Romania/Hungary-Netherlands     10-90
that snipers are icspunsive lu the openmy and closing of oppíjrnmiiiti for negotiating entry into Western Europe.
Entry Strategies
:r.i
The ňiiaJ pmíĽipai function thy r smuggler served euucemedgntry.Éiiit. \ nsjt ciiuuu-ics as well as into des d nation coiimrjjx'Tlifec principal cn^ tpf ^rarcKLerwereeaployeat3rs^irg^iers—danjesrineentry, entrv^rh íbls^jp^iKmutJUJiv^Ľnrry wirhniu flttaimEDtatioiťl^e^rTl iíksí dTíFěřiriřštřaELgbs Coincided wľffnftfŕerent impälúín routes. Clandestine ft?/!/ ira5 tí?e /M7/2 strafe^/ for entering neighboring Turkey or Pakistan from Iran, to co/jrmsc, * iiwioa'fy of respondents tvpurtcil using fyke documentation to enter Romania or Hungary. Meanwhile, the dominant strategy for entering the Netherlands wm, (y piesent oneself ro the immigration police without a passport.
This last strategy Illustrates a wider function that smugglers were re-orted to have served, which was to provide information on how to retain in the Netherlands after arrival. For example, the absence of a pass-art hinders personal identification, the identification of a country of JSÍ3L and the identification of uansit couiitrieJM^oiit^nTUEfitl
jrtedro have haj verv accurate information on the asylum procedure in lľ Nctherland^SSmej-Ľsptindents had even been advised how to re-rond" during interviews with immiftraiion officials, for example, by not imjng as transit rnnntries those countries w;th ^yhi^hJ;he Netherlaruk—-^ ad signed a Readmission Agreement.
T^rhíT|Ts^TTr-mrFST~éxtreme^ximpTe of smugglers organizing entry rategies was in the case of eleven respondents for whom smugglers even tade a decision about their final destination. Three of these respondents
5muggNny Asylum Seekers into Western Europe
mply requested that they be taken to any country in Western Europe, I'liiwevcr, the remaining eight had intended before leaving Iran to n relatives or friends already living in com s [i in in Western Europe—in Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, but nut m the Netherlands (koser, i?9ľb). For all eleven respondents, smugglers had apparently stated that the Netherlands was the only country to which they could be smuggled at iliac time and had thus effectively made the decision about their nria! destinations for them
Smuggling as a Human Rights Issue
;)
The las r section demonstrated quite clearly how, for twenty-nine of the diiriy-uvd respondents interviewe d., smuggling was a migration issue. For many nr" these respondents, smuggling provided what they perceived as their only options for leaving Iran, traveling to Western Europe, and entering the Netherlands, To return for a moment to the distinction de-kjjibed in die introduction to this chapter, there seems to be a growing consensus that smuggling is u migration issue, and the preceding empirical evidence has reinforced that const usus- Hu«vc»ci, smuggling also be-came a human rights issue for many of the respondents involved in this -ervey. Tbjee_ sources of vulnerability, arose for respondents as a.diiect consequence of smuRg^mp,—■ political, econaťciicu a,nu. social insecurity
One of the main suutcľs of political insecurity for any asylum seeker arises Írom the threat of deuuetatiou. lra.ii is one u í a number uf countries where it is reported that repatriated asylum seekers often face persecution from the government arising specifically from their attempts to claim asy-lum in the first place (MNS, 1995). Nevertheless, during 1996 and 1997, at the time of the interviews, deportations from the Netherlands to Iran were occurring (MNS, 1996). What remains unclear is the extent to which smuggling increases the likelihood of being deported. On the one hand, the 19 51 United Nations Convention on Refugees stipulates that refugees should not be penalized on the basis of their method of arrival in a country of asylum. The implication is that once asylum seekers have entered the asylum procedure, their involvement or otherwise with smugglers should have no bearing on their applications. On the other hand, it is quite clear that on certain political and media agendas, asylum seekers are^n-creasingly becoming synonymous with illegal migrants. There is a concern
68                       Historical and Conceptual Approaches
among human rights activists that asylum seekers who lan be sb have been ainuK^Jcd may noc be.a.j'lowĽd tu enter the asyíum procedure and may face the threat of dTp"1*3"'"" a« illegal migrants,  n
Ttn the m n fori ry oř res pťj j Ja i f s, die jjulitical insecurity associated with the rejection of a claim for asylum was heightened by the taci that thef arrived in the Netherlands via one or more transit countries, thusr migration routes having been organized by traffickers. Many were smuggled initially to Turkey, whence regular deportations of Iranian asylům sí*Ií ers have been reported. At the end of 1995, 150 Iranian asylum seekers staged a sit-in at the headquarters or" che United Socialist Parry in Ankara demanding that deportation orders by the govern 1 ucnr oi Turkey lit- revoked. Romania was another country through which many respondents transited. A Readmission Agreement has been negotiated by the Dutch government with Romania so that asylum seekers can b ľ returned there; Romania, however, is one of several central or Eastern european countries considered by many audmnties to be ill equipped properly rp_rjcqv? and protect asylum seekers (ECRE, 1995)._________
Traffickers were reported to have charged between^ 4,000 and $r,co U.S. for their services, and meeting these costs aiso ľapOkkíí maurie* spondents to a form of economic vulnerability at various stages dunng their migration. First, even before leaving Iran, all but two oi ihe respondents who employed smugglers were obliged to turn to friends or relatives for financial assistance. Several reported that they iiad been forced to risk staying in Iran despite the very immediate threat u ť detention in order í" raise money. It is quire deai that in the absents or financial support from social networks, most respondents would nor have been able to inigrisrc. "Meeting the cost or rraifickers also meant that some respondents ies't Tran with vn tually no nujneyT which ľKjnj^ed many to sources gfecon»mir. ygJJlemMil}- öofá in tinnsít countries una in fJie Nedierhnds, As indicated in table 1, those respondents whv t^ume to the Netherlands vistrsn-nt counixjcy. st/enr/jerween a Scwdavs and mmvsr dtitxmonths m tfie latter. About half of them reported that they had been obliged to work an the black market in transit countries, in order to derive sufficient income to live. The fees paid to smugglers did not cover subsistence costs en route o the Netherlands. In contrast, other respondents had managed t&.bor-Dw enough money before leaving Iran to cover the cost of living in tran-t countries.
Smuggling Asylum Seekers into Western Europe.................    69
est respondents nevertheless arrived in the Netherlands without
n tin e y. At tlie same time, most had no other source of income to supple-
t state allowances to; meet basic expenditures, largely because of re-
itricttonsupon entry into the labor market for asylum seekers in the
Naherfarids during their first two years there (Groenendijk and Hampsink,
I.J95Í- Only one respondent admitted that he had worked illegally dur-
', his first year in the Nether lands, although he intimated that several
r respondents bad also worked illegally but were unwilling to admit
iš much to me. Even in rliuse few cases in which respondents had found temporary employment jafter their first year in the Netherlands, in the
ijoriiy of instances a substantial proportion of that income was sent
ack to Iran to pay debts to friends or relatives from whom money had been borrowed initiativ.
Tne role of smugglers In influencing the destinations of some of the respondents also save rise in their case to a source of what might be de-äctibedas social insecurity. As described previously., eight respondents had intended to join family ur friends in other countries in Western Europe
ut had arrived in the Netherlands largely at the behest of smugglers. In this way they effectively became isolated from potentially supportive social networks. Interviews widi several respondents who did have social networks in situ in the Netherlands confirmed that these had provided a variety of forms of assistance including emotional support, information,
lancial assistance, and child cart-. At a more qualitative level, there were quite clear indications that those without an unmediare soeial netwurk to
fhich to turn for general support suffered to a far greater degree and far frequently from depression and more regularly expressed concern ibonr their future (Koser, 1997b). Beyond the short term, there is a considerable literature that shows buw oucial networks can help migrants to migrate in new host countries, uamcubriy through assisting with housing and employment (Gurak and Caces, 199z).
Contradictions, Conundrums, and Dilemmas
Before proceeding to generalize from this case study, a number of reservations need to be acknowledged. The first concerns the extent to which any asylum seeker's responses to questions about an issue as potentially sensitive at smuggling can really be trusted. As emphasized earlier in this

70..................Historical and Conceptual Approaches
chapter, systematic methodological safeguards were put in placet increase the level of trust between respondent and interviewer. Neverí less, the preceding description of smuggling experiences focused principally on only a handful of respondents, those with whom i r was ft li dur a specific bond had been formed. This further reduction of an aired small-scale survey ra ises u second resei vad on, concerning the broader applicability of the case studyHfi^'rie~continuing_ absence of virnialh ./:* other emph icajjgSĽaŕch with trafficked asylum seekers, it is iinpossih i assess the extent to which rhe experiences of the respondents injhii iat-vcy were ty p ičaTofasy i um seeker^__—————'
^Stffl^wlun is ckaf-framTffis'čáse study ar lyase is that the smugg]ingí|| asylum seekers can he both a migration and a human ngftts issue. Tnis chapter has provided empirical evidence to show die types of practical ob-. Stades in response to which asylum seekers may be forced to mru tu smug- • glers both to leave their countries of origin and to enter Western Eurojj This evidence lends credence to the conclusion^ drawn from the analyjii of the changing political context for asylum seekers in Western Euíupť and data on asylum applications over the last fifteen years* Al die Si time, the chapter has provided empirical evidence to show how their in volvement with smugglers directly mcrcased the insecurity of many al tfie respondents. And it is worth emphasizing that the nature of this resrardij means that it necessarily provides only a I i m i i cd p ers pee ti ve o n insecu rity. IFcověrs only those asylum seeKers who have in effect been "success.:ľ ui reaching Western Europe—nothing is known about rhe aTyl urn seekers. who cannot afford m leave Iran by paying smugglers, or rhnv wii-.i ire still stranded in transit countries, or even those who might hayg_dir.il a tuureJ>JťhŤierna5 the research been able to consider the psychológia! in- i securities associated with being Smuggled clandestinely across burdcrs,« traveling across Europe in the back of a truck, or trying to board a plant with false documents.
Disaggregating smuggling into a migration and li uma n rights issue hu highlighted a conceptual contradiction. On the one han J, it seems that smuggling can provide a valuable service, by enabling asylum seekers—.■ including at least some genuine refugees—to escape persecution and reach asylum. On the other hand, it seems mat at the same time smuggling can expose the already vulnerable tu even greater vulnerabiiiry. Herein Iíís a policy conundrum: how to protect asylum seekers from jheitisecurit)
Smuggling Asylum Seekers into Western Europe.
ťiatedjwh^sinugľjlini; without closing the door on what is one of the possibilities ior applying for asyium in Western Europe. Such conceptual contradictions and poliev conundrums are perhaps surprising veti that the smuggling of asylum seekers is not a new phenomenon. ticre. is clear evidence, for example, that many thousands of Jewish crudes were smuggled both westward andeastward frqmGermany and Occupiedjm rope before and J n ring World War II.
re is itu straightforward answer to this conundrum; what is perhaps easier to explain—by breaking it dowu into a series of constituent policy dilemmas—is just why it is so difficult ro solve. Each of these, it might be I, arises in turn from a series of new characteristics that make the xntemporary smuggling of asylum seekers qualitatively different from Iter experiences: namel y, the contemporary composition of asylum frčke:*, the social organization of smuggling, and the emerging purpose of smuggling. One new characteristic is the complex composition of flows of smug-Ů asyium seekers. Most commentators would be unlikely to disagree n Jewish asylum seekers who were smuggled from Germany and Occupied Europe before and during World War II faced vile persecution and 'were in clear need of protection. But most commentators, however sympathetic, would also he unlikely to disagree char arleajit sou ie asylum seek-> arriving in Western fcurope today do not have a genuine claim on refugee sttjmiK^Analysis of rhe cha~ň~gTrig j^tjcTÜ ťoutexTíbr asylum sccfo ■  "as shown how 3 rarirc of migrant carecjories—from refugees to economic, migrants—have now_hcen forced to converge rm a single, illegal; auj^njjfl^Jiaimejyrhe policy dilemma that arises Jšliow to balance thity tijiins n* rf fnuppB ivhilf; Epntrobing the smuggling or" other migrants^--"    * -^jeterrrdnew characteristic arises Irom the changing organisation or niggling. This chapter has alluded to a variety of ways in which even smugglers b one small case study are highly organized. Smugglers in Iran seem to have become proaetivsjn rreatina a market fur their services.
diey seem to contro [ a closejni^n arton a 1 network nF;ipgnre, rhpv seem to ŕ^yervwdrrrľr^TTnTTfTrliniitasvlum proeedtires in Western European tuun-mrs,jind they have pmve.d-thamfiijfvtia to..bfrv-f-spxiiiaivet-te^wpeRiii^ and ^<*ingírpjíO^^                                                              policy dilemma?
ü is how to break out of rhe current vicious cycle,^yj^crcby smug-aglets consistently find tic™ responses to new poiieies
71
72...................Historical and Conceptual Approaches
A final new characteristic arguably relates to che changing purpose of the smuggling of asylum seekers. AlthutEgh helping asylum seekers to ty cape persecution m theu t-uuiimes oí origin is still one important function served by smugglers, it is no longer the only function. Instead, stmiEfli have been sti"wn 'n tllis L7flFf ^»Iv tfi 1'ir invwlvil nrf "H1" ln -y IJ rutin t, gxjt rnutĽľ hi" "^" in íirľn])i?.injT rntry Tnrl rvrn trlf-r'Tinf' cfosiMStiom. The policy dilemma that arises is how tu Cjjšaj&rejafe the smuggling process, sn that üinugdJnK into Westem-Lnrnpp run 1lf nmirrolled but miiu^hng out uf some counfries can still be recognized as hiinĽ nci^surY for those being persecuted or denied fundamental human rights.
Conclusion
As mentioned, the introduction to this chapter was written on the day of the tragedy in Dover. It is now a week later; che events in Dover h^yc already disappeared from the rnedia agenda. Still, they have reinforced^ demand that policymakers respond to what is perceived in many circles. to be a growing problem in terms of both illegal ľ»try and obvious human rights issues connected tu the treatment uf asylum seekers; Tmschflp-'^ ter has tried to illustrate the complexities of the smuggling of asylum seet-crs and to highlight some o( the inherent contradictions, con u n drums, and'; dilemmas. The concern must be that in response to <i growing pul clamor, policy will be made without proper regard to these compkjdile and without proper regard to its consequences for the asylum seekers; involved.
NOTE
This chapter is a substantial revision of an earlier chapter in Koser and Lľg (1998).
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