Every year, thousands of people fall prey to human trafficking or risk their lives by relying on migrant smuggling. Although both involve serious crimes that affect communities across the globe, they are often misunderstood or mistaken for one another - but what’s the real difference between them, and why does it matter?
Human trafficking is a crime involving the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploiting them. Traffickers use violence, fraudulent employment agencies and fake promises of education and job opportunities to trick, coerce and deceive their victims. They abuse the vulnerability of their victims in order to exploit them – most of the time through forced labour or sexual exploitation. Men, women and children of all ages and from all backgrounds can become victims of this crime, which occurs in every region of the world.
Migrant smuggling is the facilitation of irregular entry into a country where the person is not a national or resident. Smugglers engage in this illegal activity for financial or material gain. They seize the opportunity created by the need or desire of people to escape not just poverty and lack of employment opportunities but also natural disasters, conflict or persecution, in the absence of legal channels to migrate.
The two crimes differ in their:
Purpose: The purpose of human trafficking is the exploitation of victims through forced labour, sexual exploitation or other forms of abuse. In contrast, the purpose of migrant smuggling is to facilitate irregular entry or stay of a person in a country where they don’t have a legal right to enter or remain. This is done in exchange for payment from the person being smuggled.
Transnationality: Migrant smuggling is always transnational, as it involves the irregular movement of people across borders. Human trafficking, on the other hand, is not necessarily transnational. Many trafficking cases happen within a single country’s borders.
Source of criminal profits: In migrant smuggling, profits are mainly earned by charging fees for transport, false documents, or other services that enable irregular migration. In human trafficking, profits come from the ongoing exploitation of victims. This can include making them to work without pay, coercing them into sexual activities, forcing them to commit crimes, or even removing and selling their organs.
Crime against what or whom: Migrant smuggling is primarily a crime against the state, as it violates immigration laws and undermines border control. While smuggled migrants may suffer harm, the act itself is not legally defined as a crime against a person. Human trafficking, in contrast, is a direct crime against an individual as it involves the abuse and exploitation of a victim.
Someone who believes they are simply being smuggled across a border may, along the way, be deceived, threatened, or forced into exploitation - turning a smuggling case into trafficking. In some situations, both crimes occur at the same time, making the circumstances even more complex. Let’s take a closer look at their similarities.
Global crimes: Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are both crimes which can happen in every region of the world. According to data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2022, 156 countries reported over 70,000 identified trafficking victims. In 2023, more than 230,000 people were smuggled from North Africa to Europe, and more than half a million people crossed the Darien Gap – a dense tropical forest across Panama and Colombia. A year before, over 150,000 people attempted to pass through Djibouti’s arid regions at the mercy of smugglers.
Organized crimes: Human trafficking and migrant smuggling can involve organized criminal groups, ranging from loosely connected individuals to highly structured transnational networks. When such groups are involved, human trafficking and smuggling are usually more violent, exploitative and prolonged.
Corruption: Corruption is central to the commission of both crimes. In migrant smuggling cases, it can happen at many levels: from individual bribes at border control points to misconduct within governmental institutions. Corruption also plays a key role in every form of human trafficking, particularly during its initial stages. It often enables transportation of the victims to the destination where they are ultimately exploited.
Prosecution and legal frameworks: International legal instruments have been established to address both crimes. The United Nations Trafficking in Persons Protocol, and the Smuggling of Migrants Protocol under the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC), require adhering countries to criminalize these offenses. These protocols aim to prevent and combat trafficking and smuggling, protect and assist victims, and foster cooperation among states.
Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are often confused, but they are two very different crimes. Knowing the difference is important: it helps protect victims and vulnerable migrants, hold perpetrators accountable, and improves efforts to stop both.
UNODC plays a key role in supporting countries to prevent and respond to human trafficking and migrant smuggling. It provides expert guidance to help governments draft national legislation, develop effective policies and design comprehensive action plans that address both crimes in line with international standards.
It trains frontline professionals, including police officers, border guards, labour inspectors, prosecutors and victim support teams. These efforts help build the skills needed to identify victims, investigate cases, and prosecute offenders while protecting the rights of trafficking victims and smuggled migrants.
UNODC also helps countries strengthen cross-border cooperation, enabling them to dismantle criminal networks, trace illicit profits, and bring perpetrators to justice.
