Suchergebnisse

The Australian government has become increasingly frustrated at the inability to prevent people smugglers from transporting asylum seekers to Australia, despite increasing law enforcement measures. Yet research on people smuggling networks remain dispersed and fail to take into account recent developments on people smugglers and their activities. This report thus addresses a need to re-examine people smuggling networks that target Australia as the destination country. There are various conceptual frameworks used to examine transnational organised crime as well as people smuggling networks. However, only certain elements of each framework 'fit' the Australian context. This gives credence to the argument that people smuggling networks are constantly developing and stereotypes of smuggling networks are unhelpful. As such, this report draws from elements of these networks and applies them to empirical research on people smuggling activities. In addition these elements are applied to profiles that have been created of individual smugglers as well as information from media reports and government documents. Research on people smuggling networks have established that they are highly adaptable and resilient and this is further strengthened by the profiles of smugglers. These profiles also suggest that roles traditionally assigned to specific actors within these smuggling networks do not fit in the Australian context. People smuggling networks also show flexibility in the way they respond to law enforcement measures and routes used to enter into Australia. Nevertheless, the profiles and research findings indicate that people smugglers show flexibility in the former. While there is a wide range of actors involved in people smuggling operations, there is a level of hierarchy distinguishing local Indonesian smuggling groups and the coordinators of smuggling networks. However, the real 'untouchable' actors seem to be corrupt public officials and traditional financiers of smuggling operations. Nevertheless, there is a lack of information on whether the latter exist in an Australian context. Furthermore, despite strong evidence suggesting that top smugglers are Australian residents, the research findings indicate otherwise. Ethnicity also plays an important role in people smuggling networks. It cannot be separated from other features of smuggling networks. Moreover, understanding the way in which Chinese smuggling networks operate can assist in understanding how smuggling networks operate in other regions. Though the research findings reflect the importance of ethnicity, they suggest that there is a stronger regional connection between smugglers and the people they smuggle. Lastly, the diversified pattern of criminal organisations has ted many to conclude that people smuggling networks are no different. There are numerous ways in which smuggling networks can transform to a trafficking situation, and there are various scenarios where people smuggling can be linked to drug trafficking as well as terrorist activities. However, the research findings only indicate a link between smuggling and potential drug trafficking organisations. Future research thus needs to focus on examining whether these connections exist, and finding ways to prevent the development of these links in the future.