Co-organised on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 October by the Council of Europe’s Committee on Crime Problems and Division on Migration and Refugees, the 3rd International Conference on Migrant Smuggling brought together representatives of the Council of Europe’s member and partner states, as well as delegates from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the European Commission, Europol, Interpol and the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
This was followed by the 4th meeting of the Council of Europe Network of Prosecutors on Migrant Smuggling.
The aim was to discuss the practical challenges of implementing national and international instruments on migrant smuggling and to prepare the next Recommendation by the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers on the subject.
This is scheduled for December.
In his closing speech, Gianluca Esposito, Director General of Human Rights and Rule of Law of the Council of Europe, stressed that this Recommendation will complement the United Nations Palermo Protocol [aiming to “prevent, suppress and punish trafficking in persons, especially women and children”, editor’s note] and will take account of the standard-setting work underway within the European Union.
“No country alone can face the rapidly evolving global crime of migrant smuggling”, he said.
“The Council of Europe encourages its member states to make full use of the Organisation’s robust legal architecture to tackle migrant smuggling and related, intertwined crimes — including those covered by the Council’s conventions on mutual legal assistance, extradition, cybercrime, human trafficking, and money laundering”.
In his opening speech, Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights, urged participants to ensure that human rights considerations remain central to the process of preparing the Recommendation by the Committee of Ministers.
He also warned against the criminalisation of humanitarian action and called for greater efforts to establish safe and legal migration channels. (Original version in French by Véronique Leblanc)