Trafficking in Human Beings and Smuggling of Migrants

Overview

Introduction

This overview presents the key concepts, context, and implementation considerations related to the design of interventions addressing migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings, as well as the proposed results chains and indicators for this topic.

Key Definitions

The definitions below are based on the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Palermo Protocols (2000). Smuggling of migrants (SoM) refers to the facilitation of the irregular entry of a person into a country for financial or material benefit. It generally involves the crossing of international borders and a voluntary transactional relationship between the smuggler and the smuggled person. Trafficking in human beings (THB), also referred to as trafficking in persons (TIP), refers to the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or reception of persons through coercion, deception, abuse of vulnerability, or other forms of control for the purpose of exploitation. Unlike migrant smuggling, trafficking in persons is centred on exploitation and may occur with or without cross-border movement.

SDG Framework

Interventions addressing migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings particularly contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5, 8, 10, and 16, including Target 5.2 on eliminating trafficking and exploitation of women and girls, Target 8.7 on eradicating forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking, and child labour, Target 10.7 on facilitating orderly, safe, regular, and responsible migration, and Targets 16.2 and 16.4 on ending exploitation and trafficking of children and combating organised crime. The international framework in this area is mainly informed by the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its Palermo Protocols (2000), as well as other relevant human rights principles, guidance, and standards.

Context Analysis

Migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings are distinct but often interconnected forms of transnational organised crime that may share common drivers, routes, and vulnerabilities. Smuggling and trafficking networks are frequently linked to other forms of organised crime, including money laundering, corruption, drug trafficking, and violence. During displacement processes, migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons face heightened risks of violence, abuse, exploitation, trafficking, extortion, and other human rights violations. Women and children face particular protection risks, including labour and sexual exploitation.

Several factors may hinder effective prevention, protection, and prosecution efforts. These include limited institutional capacities, weak governance and coordination systems (both at national and transnational levels), gaps in legal and policy frameworks, limited victim identification and referral mechanisms, and insufficient protection and assistance services. Effective responses also require human rights-based and protection-sensitive border management, access to justice and international protection, child protection systems, gender-sensitive and trauma-informed approaches, reliable data collection and monitoring systems, cross-border cooperation, and coordination between law enforcement, border, justice, and protection actors within and across countries of origin, transit, and destination.

EU Policy Priorities

Addressing migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings constitutes an important component of the EU’s migration policy, external action, and security cooperation. In line with the UN framework and the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum(2024), the EU promotes a comprehensive, human rights-based, victim-centred, and do-no-harm approach to preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling, while ensuring the protection of migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, victims of trafficking and affected communities. The EU Strategy on Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (2021-2025) supports prevention, protection and assistance to victims, prosecution of trafficking offences, and international partnerships. In parallel, the EU-led Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling (2023) and its Joint Declaration (2025) promote operational and cross-border cooperation with partner countries, including on protection-sensitive border management, access to international protection, victim identification and referral mechanisms, and cooperation between law enforcement and judicial authorities.

Through EU’s external actions, the EU supports partner countries in strengthening migration governance, institutional capacities, legal and policy frameworks, and cooperation mechanisms related to trafficking in human beings and migrant smuggling, including common operational partnerships, joint investigation teams and victim identification and referral systems through protection-sensitive approached.

Consideration for the design of interventions

Interventions addressing migrant smuggling and trafficking in human beings should be designed in line with relevant EU, international, and national legal and policy frameworks, while fostering complementarities and synergies with other relevant EU initiatives and cooperation programmes. They should be developed in coordination with countries of origin, transit, and destination, as well as international, national, and local authorities, law enforcement, justice and border actors, civil society organisations, protection actors, and relevant service providers. The generic results chain proposed for this topic is aligned with EU commitments and good practice formulation standards in the sector and may serve as a reference for the design of related interventions.

Results chains should consider prevention, protection, prosecution, and partnership dimensions. They must address factors affecting the effectiveness and sustainability of responses as described in the context analysis. Child protection, gender-sensitive, trauma-informed and human rights-based approaches, protection risks linked to age, disability, and other vulnerabilities, and awareness raising on the risks of irregular migration, trafficking in human beings, and migrant smuggling should also be considered throughout the intervention cycle.

The sector guidance indicators in this thematic area should be used, where relevant, to measure the results of specific interventions, without modifications or adaptations, in order to facilitate the aggregation of results across logframes and support greater alignment and comparability between interventions. Selected indicators may be combined with additional indicators, as appropriate to the intervention context and expected results.

Where interventions focus on specific sectors such as justice sector reform, security sector reform, human rights, child protection, gender equality, social protection, governance, resilience and peace, cybersecurity, or forced displacement, it is strongly recommended to also consult relevant results chains and indicator guidance developed for those sectors.