People Smuggling
Hundreds of thousands of people leave their home countries every year to escape conflict and poverty. Many are willing to take desperate measures in the hopes of finding a better life.
Criminal networks exploit the desperation and vulnerability of migrants seeking to escape armed conflict, persecution and deprivation. They offer a broad range of facilitation services such as transportation, accommodation and fraudulent documents at excessively high prices. In many cases, migrants are forced to pay for these services by means of illegal labour.
Migrants were smuggled in 2016 (estimated number)
A minimum annual income for smugglers