The Legal Features of Smuggling Organisations in Light of the Provisions of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol
| Author | Abdelnaser Aljahani |
| Published date | 01 June 2015 |
| Date | 01 June 2015 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0022018315586496 |
| Subject Matter | Comment |
Comment
The Legal Features of
Smuggling Organisations in
Light of the Provisions of the
Migrant Smuggling Protocol
1
Abdelnaser Aljahani
University of Benghazi, Libya
Abstract
This article seeks to explore the legal features in international law of actors who carry out the
operations of migrant smuggling. The legal features of smuggling organisations have not been
considered by the Migrant Smuggling Protocol (the Protocol); the Protocol simply does not
include a provision that defines the concept. Nonetheless, this article argues that a number of
these features can be ascertained through the combined reading of Article 4 of the Protocol
and Article 2(a) of the Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNCTOC). The
former article creates a link between an organised criminal group and the application of the
Protocol, while the latter article actually defines the concept of an organised criminal group. A
number of deficiencies can be identified in the concept of an organised criminal group, given the
features that characterise the actors who engage in the smuggling of migrants. Otherwise, the
criterion of the structured group of three persons or more in the concept of an organised
criminal group poses an obstacle to combating migrant smuggling. Therefore, this article
suggests a number of amendments to this criterion.
Keywords
A structured group of three persons or more, cooperation, border-crossing, purpose
Introduction
The Migrant Smuggling Protocol does not include any article that explicitly defines the legal features of
the actors who engage in activities of migrant smuggling. Furthermore, the academic literature on
1. Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, Supplementing the United Nations Convention against
Transnational Crime (adopted on 15 November 2000 and entered into force on 28 January 2004) 40 ILM 384 (the ‘Migrant
Smuggling Protocol’).
Corresponding author:
Abdelnaser Aljahani, University of Benghazi, Libya, 14 Rhyl Avenue, Blackburn BB1 8JE, UK.
E-mail: wea.nasser@yahoo.com
The Journal of Criminal Law
2015, Vol. 79(3) 170–180
ªThe Author(s) 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018315586496
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