The human element of maritime crime : stowaways, human trafficking and migrant smuggling

Abstract

The contemporary understanding of maritime security goes beyond direct threats to national sovereignty. It has expanded significantly, thus placing a greater demand on the enforcement capacity of States and presenting a challenge which each State cannot counter alone. Uncontrolled movements of people, particularly, through migrant smuggling and (where international borders are crossed) trafficking in individuals, may be included in this group of threats to maritime security constituting threats to national sovereignty and to political and economic stability, aside from causing major disruption to national immigration policies and to the international protection framework as a whole.