Comparative Study on Smuggling Crimes

Author: Dan Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Strictly speaking, illegal immigration is not a criminal offense in the sense of criminal law. Illegal immigration is a colloquial term used by the Chinese academic and judicial communities to refer to various forms of crimes involving illegal entry or exit of a country. These crimes are, however, subject to the constraints of criminal law and other laws. Accurately speaking, illegal immigration refers to international illegal immigration activities, which involve illegal entry or exit of a country (border). In the literal sense, illegal immigration is the act of entering or exiting a country (border) without the permission of the state's border management authorities, thereby disrupting the management order of the exporting and importing countries and the immigration system. Therefore, illegal immigration constitutes an infringement on the national sovereignty of the exporting and importing countries, and it severely affects the national security and social stability of these countries. As a result, all countries adopt a harsh stance against illegal immigration. The legislative purpose of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, which deals with crimes that obstruct the order of social management, is to combat and prevent illegal immigration. Since the harm caused by illegal immigration varies from country to country, some countries are illegal immigration exporting countries, some are illegal immigration importing countries, and others are illegal immigration transit countries. Therefore, the penalties for illegal immigration activities are not uniform across countries. In addition to China, which explicitly stipulates six crimes in Section 3 of Chapter 6 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China under the heading of Crimes that Obstruct the Order of Social Management, most countries in the world only regulate punitive measures against illegal immigration in administrative regulations, primarily through relevant provisions in the Immigration Law. Therefore, a comparative study of illegal immigration crimes, if conducted solely from a criminological perspective without a systematic analysis of its constituent elements to clarify its internal structure, would fail to provide a comprehensive examination of illegal immigration—a global challenge.
In relevant United Nations documents, illegal immigration is referred to as "human trafficking," "illegal immigration," "population smuggling," and similar offenses, which are also adopted and regulated in immigration laws of many countries worldwide. Thus, studying illegal immigration inevitably involves immigration law and related administrative regulations.
How severe is illegal immigration? According to statistics from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations research institutions, the number of people engaged in or involved in illegal immigration activities worldwide, even by the most conservative estimates, is approximately 100 million. Over the past 400 years, only 11.5 million people have been trafficked out of Africa. However, in the past decade, illegal immigration has surged globally, with China, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, and the former Soviet republics becoming "hotspots" of illegal immigration, with the number of illegal immigrants far exceeding the 400-year population of Africa. A report published by the International Organization for Migration, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, in January 2003 stated that one in every 35 people in the world is an immigrant, with a total of 175 million immigrants worldwide, accounting for 3% of the global population, of whom 47.5% are women. This is an increase of 30 million compared to 10 years ago and has reached an all-time high. Over the past 40 years, more and more people have left their homelands to settle in other countries, some seeking better opportunities due to global wealth disparities, while others have been forced to leave due to hunger, war, natural disasters, and other misfortunes. "Especially, many illegal immigrants become prostitutes or de facto slaves to pay for their smuggling fees, or are forced to work under harsh conditions and suffer exploitation."
With the disintegration of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in the 1990s, China's further reform and opening-up, and the unstoppable momentum of economic globalization breaking down economic and political barriers between countries and regions, as well as the frequent conflicts in many countries and regions worldwide, have further fueled illegal immigration. China has also been severely affected by the global wave of illegal immigration since the 1990s. Since the 1990s, approximately 300,000 to 400,000 Chinese have left the mainland annually, with about 200,000 of them illegally entering the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other developed countries with the help of illegal immigration groups. Organized groups smuggling Chinese immigrants have been discovered in most European countries. The number of illegal immigrants in Europe, including Albanians from Kosovo, Kurds from Iraq, Romani people from Eastern Europe, and Afghans, increased by approximately 1 million between 1991 and 1998, with an estimated 120,000 to 500,000 entering the European Union. The United States accepts 1.4 million legal immigrants annually, plus more than 300,000 illegal immigrants. The other nine largest countries accepting illegal immigrants are India, Pakistan, France, Germany, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Iran. According to United Nations statistics, the annual trade in smuggling illegal immigrants is as high as $4 billion, with some data indicating it may reach $9 billion. Since the profits from illegal immigration are underground "black money," precise statistics are impossible, so we can only accept the United Nations' figure for now. Although its total profits still cannot compare to drug trafficking, its rapid growth is already evident. Pino Arlacchi, Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said, "Given the scale of people involved, profits, and the diversity of human trafficking activities, human trafficking is the fastest-growing criminal industry in the world. If all human trafficking activities are combined, it is undoubtedly the largest human rights violation in the world."
At its core, illegal immigration is the act of migrating to another country without legal means. This act not only significantly impacts the national reputation, sovereignty, social order, and economic development of the exporting country but also brings great shocks to the national reputation, sovereignty, social order, and economic development of the importing country. It also severely disrupts normal international order and relations. What is particularly serious is that the organizers of illegal immigration—so-called "snakeheads"—have allied with criminal organizations in Europe, America, Japan, China, and Southeast Asia, forming vast transnational illegal immigration groups. Therefore, illegal immigration is no longer just the personal illegal act of an immigrant but has evolved into a form of transnational organized crime. The tragic death of 58 Chinese illegal immigrants in Dover, England, is a clear example of a transnational illegal immigration case orchestrated by international snakehead organizations.
Thus, combating illegal immigration is no longer just an internal matter for one country but a responsibility and obligation for the entire international community. If governments act unilaterally, blame each other, fail to cooperate, and ignore illegal immigration, the international community will be unable to form a strong united front to curb this global, organized crime.
So, how does illegal immigration occur? Why do so many people choose to migrate to other countries through illegal means? Most illegal immigrants are ordinary people. Why would they willingly pay huge sums to snakeheads for illegal immigration, even risking their lives to reach the United States, Europe, and other economically developed countries? This is indeed a deeply thought-provoking question.
Since illegal immigration is a collection of various criminal forms, involving numerous countries and regions with significant differences, its causes and consequences are closely tied to the political systems, economic development levels, cultures, and customs of one country and others. Therefore, studying illegal immigration requires a broad perspective. While this book comprehensively examines illegal immigration and the international community's punitive measures and cooperative efforts against it, it also attempts to analyze the causes of illegal immigration from a sociological perspective to explore more rational approaches to preventing and addressing this global issue.