30th Session of the CCPCJ PNI Workshop 2021 | “Lessons Learned: Impact of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol Twenty Years Later”

Monday, May 17, 2021 | 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. Vienna
Hybrid Format (Virtual Webinar & Vienna International Centre)

ICCLR Flyer for PNI Workshop 2021

Smuggling of migrants affects all regions of the world, with different areas affected by it to varying degrees as origin, transit, or destination points. Profit-seeking criminals smuggle migrants across borders and between continents. Assessing the magnitude of this crime is a complex matter, owing to its clandestine nature and the difficulties associated with identifying when irregular migration is being facilitated by smuggling activities. Smugglers take advantage of the large number of vulnerable migrants willing to take risks in search of a better life when legal channels of migration are unavailable or prohibited.

The annual PNI workshop is aligned with the topic for thematic discussion at the session of the CCPCJ and precedes the thematic discussion. This year’s theme is “effective measures to prevent and counter the smuggling of migrants, while protecting the rights of smuggled migrants, particularly women and children, and those of unaccompanied migrant children”. The Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Migrant Smuggling Protocol) aims at preventing and combating smuggling, promoting cooperation among Parties, and protecting the rights of smuggled migrants. This year marks 20+ years since the adoption of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol.

The PNI Workshop for May 2021 organized by the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR) focuses on examining the 20+ years of progress and challenges addressed by the Migrant Smuggling Protocol and the pathways it encourages moving forward. This dialogue will convene panelists from different jurisdictions to highlight the most current information on migrant smuggling and its various contours. It will also provide an opportunity to exchange good practices and innovative approaches for improving the response of the international community with respect to migrant smuggling.

Chair of the PNI Workshop: H.E. Ms. Teodolinda Rosa Rodrigues COELHO, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Angola to the United Nations (Vienna).

Opening: John Brandolino, Director of the Division for Treaty Affairs, UNODC.

International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR) will address international law enforcement cooperation and migrant smuggling, the role of civil society and the criminalization of facilitating migration. Speakers: Prof. Yvon Dandurand, Senior Associate, ICCLR and Tuesday Reitano, ICCLR, GI-TOC.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) will discuss progress made in the implementation of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol and other key international instruments in the context of addressing migrant smuggling. Speaker: Morgane Nicot, Knowledge Development and Innovation Team Leader, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling Section, UNODC.

European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI) will focus on research and recommendations regarding violence against women in migration. Speaker: Natalia Ollus, Director, HEUNI.

United Nations Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD) will focus on how migrant smuggling networks operate, the risks that smuggled migrants are subject to, and main forms of violence against migrant women and children in Latin America. The focus of this topic corresponds to that which is promoted by the United Nations in relation to Human Security, which dawns from the understanding that the ideal situation of countries is that of a regular, ordered, and safe migration, and the protection of the rights of migrants. Speakers: Douglas Durán Chavarría, Director, ILANUD and Yagnna Nicolás, Researcher, ILANUD.

Photo by Maksim Shutov on Unsplash.