Book Review: Policing Humanitarianism: EU Policies Against Human Smuggling and Their Impact on Civil Society

Guest post by Müge Dalkıran, Doctoral Candidate in Area Studies at the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey. Since 2016, she has been conducting doctoral research on the asylum regime in Greece. Müge is on Twitter @mugedalkiran.

Review of Policing Humanitarianism: EU Policies Against Human Smuggling and Their Impact on Civil Society, by Sergio Carrera, Valsamis Mitsilegas, Jennifer Allsopp and Lina Vosyliūtė (Hart Publishing 2019).

Policing Humanitarianism is a comprehensive study of the impact of European Union (EU) policies on countering migrant smuggling, and the activities of civil society actors (CSA) providing humanitarian assistance and facilitating access to rights for irregular migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. The book focuses on the role of EU policies, law and agencies in countering migrant smuggling, and their implementation in Italy, Greece, Hungary and the United Kingdom (UK) between 2015 and 2017. Considering the continuous pressure of the EU member states on the search and rescue (SAR) operations of NGO vessels in the Mediterranean, the book addresses a very timely topic. While writing this review, thirty-three NGO workers and two foreign nationals in Lesbos have faced criminal charges including supporting smuggling, running a criminal organisation, espionage and violating state secrets.

The book merits praise for its strong research methodology. Three steps were followed in data collection to ensure diverse sampling. The first step consisted of field visits to Italy, Greece, the UK, and Hungary during which 89 semi-structured interviews with CSAs (both NGOs and volunteers), UN actors, EU agencies and officials, and national border and coastguard authorities were conducted. Second, qualitative and quantitative data was collected via an online survey targeting the CSAs providing humanitarian assistance in these four countries. Lastly, two focus groups were formed with 25 participants each, representing the groups of CSAs as well as EU and national actors, such as coastguards, law enforcement and the judiciary.

Following the introductory chapter, the book is composed of three parts divided into eight chapters in total. The first part elaborates the EU's policy approach to countering migrant smuggling by examining the EU Facilitators Package and the role of the EU Home Affairs agencies including Europol, Eurojust, Frontex, and EASO in detail (Chapter Two), as well as the EU-led military operations in the Mediterranean Sea (Chapter Three). In this context, the authors discuss the multi-agency approach to counter and prevent migrant smuggling. Here, we see that the same agencies may have different functions in different member states. While the main role of the EU agencies in Italy and Greece is implementing the hotspot approach by assisting the registration and screening process, the main function of Frontex on the Hungarian-Serbian border is to assist the local authorities with border surveillance and border checks at the cross points. However, there is no EU deployment at the external EU borders with the UK, which creates different consequences relative to the other three member states. Examining border surveillance implementation from a comparative perspective reveals the differentiated border policies and practices at EU external border zones to be in contradiction with the EU’s policy of harmonization.

The second part opens with a discussion on the vague legal frameworks of anti-smuggling which are broadly interpreted and used as a tool for political pressure serving to deter, police, and criminalise humanitarian assistance in four countries (Chapter Four). Following this overview of the legal frameworks, the authors analyse empirical data demonstrating the effects of these laws and the political pressures on the CSA’s activities during first entry, including SAR (Chapter Five), in and near hotspots (Chapter Six), and in transit zones and residence areas (Chapter Seven). By setting out the evidence on how normative and operational EU policy affects CSAs, and the unique challenges facing CSAs operating in each site, this part of the book presents the richest results of the study. For instance, CSAs participating in SAR activities in Italy are facing attacks, threats and criminalisation (p. 110), while one of the CSAs conducting humanitarian assistance on the Serbian-Hungarian border navigated police violence and Hungarian civilian “border hunters” (pp. 118-119). The book demonstrates how the “criminalisation of migration” in the EU border zones limits not only the people on the move (migrants from third countries), but also the civil society that has a crucial role in mobilising politically against the EU’s policies and practices violating fundamental human rights.

After delivering evidence in the first two parts, the authors conceptualise the impact EU policy on migrant smuggling has had on European civil society. They demonstrate how three modalities of policing – suspicion/intimidation, disciplining, and criminalisation – have been used by the EU, national authorities and private actors against CSAs in each case. Suspicion/intimidation refers to indirect pressure and surveillance on CSA activities. The second modality of policing, disciplining, includes practices like calling for the mandatory registration of CSAs and limiting their access to information concerning government actions. Finally, criminalisation is the use of tools of criminal justice like prosecution, penalisation and other administrative sanctions (pp 174-175).

Concluding the book (Chapter Nine), the authors draw attention to the transformation of European civil society through mechanisms of self-control, self-silence and self-discipline—consequences of the EU's practice of policing and criminalising humanitarian actors. The authors warn of the negative impact of self-silencing on minority groups in particular and social trust more generally (pp. 178-179). Taking into consideration the restrictions on civil society and the illiberal policies pursued in response to the so-called European refugee crisis, we must ask to what extent contemporary migration, asylum and border policies are compatible with fundamental EU values like the democratic rule of law and human rights.

Policing Humanitarianism offers solid empirical data and a comprehensive conceptualisation of policing the mobile society, including the movements of citizens and civil society actors, while considering the wider impact of the EU anti-migrant-smuggling policies on civil society. However, the book requires familiarity with certain concepts such as Europeanisation, inclusion/exclusion policies, and social trust. For that reason, the greatest benefit and enjoyment from reading the book will be had by those with existing knowledge of the topic, including academics, postgraduate students and practitioners working in disciplines related to migration, border control, human rights, and criminology.

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How to cite this blog post (Harvard style) 

Dalkiran, M. (2021). Book Review: Policing Humanitarianism: EU Policies Against Human Smuggling and Their Impact on Civil Society. Available at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-subject-groups/centre-criminology/centreborder-criminologies/blog/2021/07/ [date]