UNHCR urges OSCE states to distinguish between human trafficking and smuggling

VIENNA, 8 April 2003 - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Ruud Lubbers urged the OSCE's 55 participating States on Tuesday to recognise the distinction between human trafficking and smuggling and said many refugees and asylum-seekers were now forced to turn to smugglers to reach safety.

Addressing the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna, he said the UNHCR continued to work closely with the OSCE on issues related to forced displacement, including prevention, protection and the search for solutions: "We also co-operate closely on statelessness and citizenship issues, as well as on the situation of minorities."

"With an increased focus by governments on policies of deterrence and migration control over the last few years, it has become increasingly difficult for refugees and asylum-seekers to reach asylum countries or to achieve family reunion through legal means," the High Commissioner said.

"This trend has been exacerbated in the post-September 11 environment, with the increased focus on security concerns. With regular arrival-routes closed, many refugees turn to smugglers to reach safety, in spite of the dangers and the financial costs involved. Others fall into the hands of human traffickers - women and children being particularly susceptible."

He added that the difference between smuggling of human beings and trafficking in human beings had been clearly articulated in the Palermo Protocols, signed in 2000 by more than 80 United Nations member states and it was important that States should recognise this distinction.

"Many OSCE countries are faced with mixed migratory flows including refugees, asylum-seekers, economic migrants who resort to smuggling for lack of a legitimate alternative, and persons trafficked for the purpose of exploitation. Smugglers and traffickers often use the same routes, and in some cases there are direct links between the criminal networks involved. For asylum systems to function well, it is vital that they take into account the broader issue of irregular migration and the forces that shape it."

Calling for continued close co-operation between the OSCE and the UNHCR, Mr Lubbers said: "We need to find more effective ways of managing the asylum-migration nexus, so that people in need of international protection find it, people who wish to migrate have appropriate opportunities to do so and abusive manipulation of entry possibilities is curtailed."

The High Commissioner said he hoped the forthcoming OSCE Anti-Trafficking Action Plan would be based on "a fundamental protection rationale." "From our perspective, it is also crucial that such a plan does not undermine the protection safeguards for refugees contained in the existing legal framework," he added.

Mr Lubbers expressed concern that politicians and media in some countries continued to demonise asylum seekers and refugees, particularly during election campaigns. "I fully endorse the broad range of OSCE efforts in the field of tackling racism, xenophobia and intolerance," he said.

Briefly surveying events in the OSCE region and elsewhere, the High Commissioner said the refugee dimension of the current war in Iraq affected many OSCE participating States. He hoped the war would not lead to another major refugee crisis, but if it did, the UNHCR was ready to respond.

The High Commissioner was encouraged by the interest that the OSCE has shown in Afghanistan: "Strengthened security and co-operation in adjacent areas of Central Asia is an important factor for the overall stability of countries in the OSCE region," he said. "In particular, I welcome last week's decision of the Permanent Council to grant Afghanistan the status of OSCE Partner for Co-operation."