Image: Eirik Solheim, CC BY-SA 2.0
The document (pdf) sets out six “overarching aims of the plan,” none of which are new:
- Break the business model of organised crime groups involved in migrant smuggling and trafficking of persons by:
- Disrupting their supply chains
- Preventing irregular border crossings
- Ensuring smugglers face the full extent of the law
- Reduce irregular migratory flows into Germany, the UK, and Europe
- Prevent loss of life on migratory routes and in the Channel
- Increase the returns of individuals with no right to be in the UK or Germany
- Strengthen European cooperation on transnational organised crime involved in migrant smuggling and trafficking of persons
- Maximise UK and German relationships with key regional partners to combat transnational organised crime involved in migrant smuggling and trafficking of persons
According to the document, the plan will achieve these goals by setting out a “long-term framework for enhanced cooperation,” and strengthening “operational capabilities of UK and German law enforcement.”
It is not explained in any detail how this will be done, though the German government is reportedly changing the law so that smuggling of migrants to locations outside of Germany (rather than smuggling them into Germany) is a criminal offence.
The adoption of the plan follows a series of police raids in Germany last week directed at suspected smugglers from Iraqi and the transport of inflatable boats towards the Channel coast.
Charlie Eastaugh, director of international operations at the UK’s Border Security Command, admitted to the BBC that police operations are making the crossings more dangerous:
“There are fewer boats and fewer engines in supply, we have seized over 450 boats and engines across Europe – and organised crime gangs are taking greater risks.
We’re seeing increased numbers in these boats because of the disruptive work we have carried out with our law enforcement partners in Europe.”
The EU is also currently revising its rules on migrant smuggling, which criminalise transit through EU or Schengen states. The Council of the EU’s position on the law includes a number of provisions that may make it easier not just to prosecute people for migrant smuggling, but for acts of solidarity with migrants and refugees.
The UK and Germany will also increase their “focus in Europol” on “tackling the whole end-to-end routes” and “illicit finances,” says the document. An international liaison within the UK’s recently-established Border Security Command will strengthen “UK and German alignment on systems leadership and policy”.
The plan’s implementation for an initial 12-month period is entrusted to the Home Office’s Border Security Command and the German Interior Ministry’s Directorate for International and EU Affairs.
It comes alongside a new “Calais Group Priority Plan on Countering Migrant Smuggling for 2025,” and a UK government policy paper on “Delivering Border Security.”
The UK’s Labour government established the Border Security Command after coming to power, and in September awarded it some £75 million “for an autumn immigration crime crackdown.”
Documentation
- Home Office, Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community, UK-Germany Joint Action Plan on Irregular Migration (pdf)
