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Resolution 2089 (2016)
Organised crime and migrants
1. Irregular migration to Europe is
facilitated and even promoted by the activities of networks of migrant smugglers.
The number of migrants arriving in Europe as a result of these activities
has increased dramatically in recent years. Organised criminal groups
are now believed to make more money from smuggling migrants than
from more traditional contraband such as arms or drugs, and tens
of thousands of smugglers are believed to be involved in bringing
migrants into Europe, forming more or less loosely structured networks
with connections across the continent and beyond to countries of
origin and transit.
2. Furthermore, a wide range of ancillary illegal activities
is connected to migrant smuggling, including document fraud, corruption
of officials to obtain documents, the failure of lorry drivers to
declare concealed passengers when crossing borders, and corruption
of border and coast guards. Migrant smuggling groups may also relatedly
engage in trafficking of human beings, drug trafficking and money
laundering. They and other organised crime groups are also involved
in, for example, labour exploitation of irregular migrants and corruption
associated with national asylum systems.
3. Despite various international instruments and mechanisms and
the efforts of national authorities, when compared with the scale
of migrant smuggling into Europe in recent years, it is striking
how difficult it has proved to prosecute and convict migrant smugglers.
Co-operation between European police forces is already taking place,
and co-ordinated efforts to dismantle international smuggling networks
have met with some success, at least as regards their European elements.
This means, however, that smuggling pipelines are only being disrupted
at one “end” and, given their nature, not in a way that could definitively
close them or even necessarily cause serious, long-standing damage.
4. The Assembly concludes that international co-operation and
intelligence sharing, bringing the widest range of expertise and
resources to bear, with a view to developing innovative, holistic
responses, are essential if the activities of organised criminal
groups in relation to migration are to be combated effectively.
These responses should target all potentially vulnerable aspects
of these groups’ business models, including money laundering, corruption
of public officials and misuse of the Internet. The aim must be
to use all possible means to transform migrant smuggling, and the
various offences often associated with it, from low-risk, high-return
to high-risk, low-return activities.
5. To this end, the Assembly therefore welcomes and encourages
the ongoing efforts and initiatives of bodies such as the Council
of Europe Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures
and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL) and the Financial Action
Task Force (FATF), the Council of Europe Group of States against
Corruption (GRECO), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
Europol and Interpol.
6. In particular, the Assembly welcomes and encourages the initiative
by the European Committee on Crime Problems to analyse legal shortcomings
presently inhibiting prosecution of migrant smugglers, with a possible
view to drafting a new regional instrument, reinforcing those of
the United Nations, intended to enhance practical co-operation amongst
member States of the Council of Europe and States in neighbouring regions.
The Assembly looks forward to a prompt and constructive conclusion
to this work.
7. The Assembly considers that efforts to combat migrant smuggling
should also address the root causes of forced migration that drive
migrants into the hands of migrant smugglers. Adequate and effective resettlement
programmes for refugees and safe and legal channels for migration
should also be introduced in order to reduce recourse to migrant
smugglers.
8. The Assembly recommends that member States:
8.1. ratify and fully implement,
if they have not already done so, the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Organized Crime and its Protocol against the Smuggling
of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air;
8.2. ratify and fully implement, if they have not already done
so, the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seizure,
and Confiscation of the Proceeds from Crime and on the Financing
of Terrorism (CETS No. 198);
8.3. fully implement the specific recommendations of MONEYVAL
and the FATF relevant to money laundering associated with migrant
smuggling and trafficking in human beings;
8.4. ratify and fully implement, if they have not already done
so, the Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption
(ETS No. 173);
8.5. as appropriate, take a proactive approach to co-operation
with other States’ relevant domestic authorities and with international
bodies responsible for co-ordinating and supporting international
co-operation, notably the UNODC, Europol and Interpol;
8.6. develop and effectively apply a full range of investigative
and prosecutorial techniques against migrant smugglers, including
notably the following measures:
8.6.1. more effective participation
in intelligence- and information-sharing systems involving other
member States and international agencies;
8.6.2. better exploitation of existing information-sharing platforms
(for example the European Agency for the Management of Operational
Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the
European Union (Frontex) and the European external border surveillance
system (EUROSUR)) to collect evidence of trends in smuggling and
migrant smugglers’ modus operandi, routes and business models;
8.6.3. better co-operation with third countries in collecting
evidence and facilitating extradition;
8.6.4. ensuring that the competent authorities are entitled to
seize, confiscate and forensically examine instrumentalities used
in smuggling offences;
8.6.5. providing protection and assistance to migrants who co-operate
with the authorities in judicial proceedings, including by granting
temporary residence permits;
8.6.6. extensive use of interception of communications, including
international communications, in accordance with the safeguards
set out in the European Convention on Human Rights (ETS No. 5),
as interpreted by the European Court of Human Rights in its case
law;
8.6.7. establishing jurisdiction for offences occurring in the
course of smuggling of migrants onto national territory, even when
ostensibly committed outside it.
9. With a view to harmonising legal standards and facilitating
international co-operation, the Assembly also encourages non-member
States, in particular the principal countries of origin and transit
for smuggled migrants, to ratify and implement relevant international
instruments as mentioned in paragraph 8, including those of the
Council of Europe that are open to them.
10. Finally, the Assembly encourages the European Union and its
member States to implement fully the Action Plan against migrant
smuggling (2015-2020), and to pursue EUNAVFOR MED’s “Operation Sophia” with
full respect for the provisions of United Nations Security Council
Resolution 2240 (2015), in particular by ensuring that all migrants
directly affected are treated with humanity and dignity and their
rights fully respected, in accordance with obligations under international
law, including international human rights and international refugee
law.