Grewcock, Michael --- "Criminological perspectives on migration crime: the policing of people smuggling and the abuse of refugees" [2019] ELECD 2988; in Mitsilegas, Valsamis; Hufnagel, Saskia; Moiseienko, Anton (eds), "Research Handbook on Transnational Crime" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019) 199

Book Title: Research Handbook on Transnational Crime

Editor(s): Mitsilegas, Valsamis; Hufnagel, Saskia; Moiseienko, Anton

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Section: Chapter 15

Section Title: Criminological perspectives on migration crime: the policing of people smuggling and the abuse of refugees

Author(s): Grewcock, Michael

Number of pages: 13

Abstract/Description:

Australia’s border policing regime for refugees seeking unauthorised entry by boat to claim asylum is premised on people smuggling being a form of transnational organised crime. However, while some level of organisation is required, people smuggling networks are fluid and non-hierarchical. Smuggling operations are more likely to be initiated or shaped by family and close social networks of refugees, who, after multiple journeys, become stranded in transit states such as Indonesia, with no formal status, little prospect of resettlement, and vulnerable to persecution and exploitation. Portraying this phenomenon as primarily about organised crime not only distorts meaningful understandings of organised crime but also diverts attention from the criminogenic and abusive practices, such as immigration detention, offshore processing, boat turn-backs and refoulement that characterise Australia’s border policing operations. A genuinely humanitarian approach to eliminating people smuggling would be to target the border controls that necessitate it.