Dealing with Human Trafficking and Human Smuggling in intra-Schengen Border Areas

Since the start of the Schengen Agreement the right to free movement of people in the Schengen area is a source of both challenges and opportunities. This socio-legal research project addresses the blurring of boundaries between the phenomena of human smuggling and human trafficking. To which extent is this distinction accurate in practice? Does such a dichotomy help in raising awareness and compassion of the different forms of human smuggling an human trafficking? The research will be focused on how both phenomena are dealt with and perceived in the context of intra-Schengen cross-border mobility, more specifically in the Spanish/French and French/Belgian border regions.

Research Question

To what extent are, can, and should, human trafficking and human smuggling be(ing) seen as interlinked phenomena? What are the consequences of seeing the phenomena as either distinct or interlinked for the way in which migrants crossing intra-Schengen borders are treated.

Project Description