ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by elaborating on the relationship between irregular migration and migrant smuggling and by asking why migrant smuggling emerges as an important policy issue. The chapter provides for the official definition of migrant smuggling in the relevant UN Protocols and analyses its differences from human trafficking. There are several perspectives addressing the question of migrant smuggling; some focus on its economic character, as a ‘business’, while others point to the socio-cultural dimensions involved in smuggling and the ways in which it can be rooted in local and regional realities. The chapter concludes by pointing to the complex and dynamic nature of migration facilitation today.
