Beyond Smuggling and Criminalisation - Toolkit
About the Thematic Group
The thematic group Beyond Smuggling and Criminalisation is a research initiative within Border Criminologies. It brings together academic researchers, practitioners, activists, and people directly affected by counter-smuggling measures to critically examine the criminalisation of the facilitation of free movement (generally known as ‘migrant smuggling’) and the impacts of contemporary counter-smuggling practices. In a context marked by the global restriction of regular migration pathways, the group focuses on how a wide range of punitive measures increasingly target those who enable, support, or engage in human mobility.
The Toolkit: Purpose and Vision
As part of its activities, the group is developing a politically engaged toolkit of arguments to challenge the criminalisation of free movement under counter-smuggling laws. This initiative draws on direct fieldwork conducted by researchers, as well as on the lived experiences of criminalised people on the move, activists, and communities living in border regions across the world.
The toolkit will provide evidence-based, context-specific arguments grounded in particular border settings. It is intended to support activists, lawyers, journalists, local and international NGOs, civil society organisations, and policymakers in strengthening campaigns for decriminalisation and contributing to more informed and nuanced debates on migrant smuggling and the facilitation of movement.
Designed for multiple audiences, the toolkit will serve several complementary purposes. It will function as:
- an advocacy resource for campaigners working towards the decriminalisation of facilitation and free movement;
- a strategic resource for lawyers defending individuals prosecuted for facilitation-related offences;
- an informational resource for NGOs, journalists, and policymakers seeking to move beyond simplistic narratives of “good” versus “bad” smugglers, and beyond framing migrant smuggling solely through the binary of “crime” versus “humanitarianism.”
Contributing to the Toolkit
To develop this resource, we are inviting contributions from individuals with direct knowledge of smuggling and counter-smuggling practices on specific border contexts. We have designed a short survey consisting of ten open-ended questions on the criminalisation and decriminalisation of migrant smuggling in particular regions.
We are especially interested in empirically grounded insights into how counter-smuggling policies operate in practice, how they affect people on the move and those who support them, and what forms of resistance, protection, or legal strategies have emerge
Responses will be grouped by region or border area. By identifying shared patterns as well as key differences, we will compile a series of up-to-date border criminalisation profiles. Each profile will address the same set of guiding questions while highlighting context-specific legal frameworks, enforcement practices, and initiatives that challenge criminalisation.
Your contribution will help ensure that the toolkit reflects diverse geographical perspectives and grounded knowledge, strengthening its relevance for advocacy, legal defence, and policy engagement.
Next Steps
The aggregated findings of the survey will be communicated to respondents via email in the form of a final report. Additionally, all respondents will be invited to participate in an online meeting of the Beyond Smuggling and Criminalisation thematic group, during which the results will be presented and discussed, and the subsequent steps regarding the use and dissemination of the toolkit will be considered.
Further Information
If you would like more information or to join this group, please email david.suber@crim.ox.ac.uk