Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Forced Migration Promotes Human Smuggling

The social issues within a society are mostly interrelated. If there is a particular problem, it has the tendency to give rise to many other social problems or sometimes it plays a part in strengthening the other problems that already exist within a society. Suppose, poverty is a grave issue and it has the capability to generate other issues or influence the ones that already exist. Poverty, for example, can strengthen terrorism or it can increase the ratio of crime within a society.
Forced immigration is also one of the similar types of issue. It, in its nature, is a grave issue; however, it can influence many other issues as well. One of the major problems that a country, wherein the people tend to migrate to other countries, faces is the shortage of manpower, which is basically an asset for the country. If the young and energetic people who can support the country at the time of crisis decide to leave the country, the country would further plunge in difficulties.
Moreover, it can create problems for the countries wherein the people move. Their main challenge is the compensation of the large number of people who move there. In addition, they would be faced with the challenges that may arise because of the cultural differences among the people with different backgrounds.
One of the major issues that is strengthened or is given birth by forced migration is human smuggling. Mostly the people who tend to migrate do not follow the legal means and, therefore, they would require the services of the human smugglers. And, this gives a sort of advantage to the smugglers to generate income by playing the lives of the people.
Currently, Afghanistan is largely hit by this problem and there are many human smugglers in the country, particularly, in the capital Kabul who take advantage of the feelings of those who are desperate and have some sort of inclination for moving towards Europe.
Reports reveal that human smuggling has now taken an organized form and remains unattended by the government, while the people have nothing to do except crying in vain. The reports also reveal that people mostly blast government for not doing anything to curb the human smuggling problem and not bringing the perpetrators to justice. People say that human smugglers go about their business freely and openly smuggle people to Europe and a number of money exchangers are also involved in the business; they help human smugglers by holding on to money paid to the smugglers by would-be migrants. This money serves as a type of guarantee and that when a migrant reaches his destination, the money exchanger hands over the money to the smuggler.
The most disturbing aspect of human smuggling is that it includes the risk of life. The illegal ways that are followedwithin the process include very risky attempts within which the people can easily lose their lives. The border control police or forces in different countries can even shoot the people who try to cross the border illegally. However, the facts show that people consider this choice much better than the lives they are having in their own countries and happily agree to opt it. Another fact is that the people being smuggled do not always involve young men. They also include children, women and even old people and this makes the process even more pathetic.
The government, in this regard, must take tangible measures to curb the situation. It requires adopting both short-term and long-term policies. In its short term policy, it must have no tolerance for the smugglers and strive to bring them to justice. It must make sure that the groups that are active at the moment must not be able to dodge the law-enforcing agencies and must not carry their activities without hesitation. In the long-run, the government can take steps to improve the situation that is compelling the people to leave their country. It can concentrate on the security situation, provide employment opportunities to the people and raise their standard of life.
Government, though, says that it has the issue in consideration, in practice, it has not shown anything tangible. The Ministry of Interior (MoI) has said on many occasions that it considers the issue important but there are no considerable measures taken by it. Moreover, the law enforcement institutions are also not capable enough to track down the networks of human smugglers and bring them to justice. In certain cases, people are tricked by the smugglers, who take their money but never turn up again to fulfill their promise of moving the people towards their desired destinations.
Human smuggling is really a serious crime and all the ways that strengthen the process must be checked properly through strong legal measures. At the same time, Afghan government must make sure that ordinary people are provided the rudimentary requirements of life and stable political and social circumstances so that they should not go for this option.