The EU’s new counter-smuggling directive proposal : persisting challenges and recommendations towards implementation

The present brief examines the Proposal for a directive to prevent and counter the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay (hereafter the Facilitation Proposal), presented by the European Commission on 28 November 2023, in the context of an international conference to announce the launch of a Global Alliance to counter Migrant Smuggling. The Facilitation Proposal replaced Council Directive 2002/90/EC and Council Framework Decision 2002/946/JHA –the so-called “Facilitators’ Package”–both in place since 2002. While the Facilitation Proposal addresses critical gaps present in the Facilitators’ Package –namely the financial or material benefit component– this brief identifies some potential solutions to persisting challenges. First, it strongly calls for the incorporation of the growing body of empirical evidence concerning the impacts of counter-smuggling, aiming to minimise their adverse effects on vulnerable groups. Second, it calls for clearer, more explicit commitments to eliminate the criminalisation of people on the move who facilitate their own journeys or those of others in order to save their lives. Lastly, it supports the implementation and strengthening of efforts to collect data concerning counter-smuggling activities across EU member states, with the expectation these figures and the methodologies behind their compilation will be fully accessible by the public. A commitment to fairness and transparency on the part of EU agencies involved in enforcing migration controls can in fact improve support for effective counter-smuggling efforts within the Union and its neighbourhoods.