How useful is the concept of transit migration in an intra-Schengen mobility context? Diving into the migrant smuggling
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How useful is the concept of transit migration in an intra-Schengen mobility context? Diving into the migrant smuggling and human trafficking nexus in search for answers Roxane de Massol de Rebetz 1 Accepted: 6 September 2020/ # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract
When using the concept of transit migration, contemporary scholarly literature and policy documents typically refer to situations located outside or at the outskirts of the European Union. By analyzing the critical and empirical scholarship which uncovers the so-called gray area where it becomes hard to make clear distinctions that can be found at the nexus between migrant smuggling and human trafficking, the article aims to shed new light on the real-life vulnerabilities and dynamics that do not fit prototypical legal categories of either human trafficking or migrant smuggling. In so doing, the article discusses and analyzes legal and empirical scholarship that uncovers these vulnerabilities. The vulnerabilities observed are likely to be further enhanced in transit zones where stranded individuals within the EU aim to continue their (increasingly) fragmented/non-linear migration journeys. Therefore, the article proposes to consider the usefulness and the usage of the notion of “transit migration” in the context of Intra-Schengen border mobility and not just when discussing external border mobility. The article argues that the concept of transit migration, if carefully defined, and if particular vulnerabilities found in transit space are recognized, can serve as a helpful lens that can prevent falling into the trap of conceiving migrant smuggling and human trafficking as strictly separate phenomena. Keywords Transit migration . Intra-Schengen . Human trafficking . Migrant smuggling
Introduction Since the start of the Schengen Agreement in 1985, the right to free movement of people within the Schengen Area is a source of both challenges and opportunities within the European * Roxane de Massol de Rebetz [email protected]
1
Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, Leiden Law School, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
R. de Massol de Rebetz
Union (EU). This is particularly true in a globalized world in which the increased movement of people across borders brings complex questions related to perception of erosion of sovereignty for nation states (see Dauvergne 2008). The so-called European asylum and migration “crisis” that drew global attention in 2015 triggered, among other things, reflections on external and internal border policing within and at the limits of the Schengen Area (Guild et al. 2015). According to the European Commission (2016), the absence of internal borders checks in the Schengen Area and its principle of free movement of people constitutes one of the most “cherished achievements” of the EU. However, in practice, both formal border controls (articles 24–26 Schengen Border Code) and informal border checks in border areas (article 23 Schengen Border Code) can be observed (van der Woude 2020)
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