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Human smuggling across the South Africa/Zimbabwe border
Forced Migration Studies Programme, Wits University
March 2009

http://www.lhr.org.za/news/2009/fmsp-report-human-smuggling-across-south-africazimbabwe-border

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Executive Summary

Widespread xenophobic attacks on foreigners in South Africa in May 2008 generated new debates around the issue of border control. This research report adds to and refines this discussion by looking at the land-based human smuggling industry on the South Africa/Zimbabwe border.

Defining human smuggling

According to Article 3 of the United Nations (UN) Protocol Against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, the smuggling of migrants refers to:

the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident.
(UN, 2000).

Human smuggling is therefore generally understood as a commercial transaction between a smuggler and a smuggled person enabling the client to cross a border illegally or clandestinely, with the consent of both parties. For the purposes of this report, we do not limit our investigations to paid transactions, however. Our purpose is to understand the role of human smuggling in irregular border crossing, which requires us to compare smuggling transactions with situations where undocumented border crossers may be assisted at no cost by family members, friends or fellow migrants.

By definition, human smuggling is different from human trafficking. Human trafficking involves, from the outset, an intention by the trafficker to profit from the forced exploitation (for instance, through sex, servitude or slavery) of the person smuggled illegally or clandestinely across a border. Smugglers, in contrast, generally do not exploit their clients once they have crossed the border. However, it is important to recognize that, like human trafficking, human smuggling often involves forms of fraud, force and coercion, and the violation of human rights.

Human smuggling on the South Africa/Zimbabwe border

Using a combination of survey data and in-depth field work, this report shows that:

• Largely because of a general state of uncertainty about conditions at the border, human smugglers are able to charge high fees for their services and, in a number of cases, abuse their clients by extorting money from them or abandoning them in dangerous environments.
• Migrants smuggled across the border are vulnerable to abduction, rape and murder by criminal elements that are difficult to distinguish from smugglers themselves.
• Human smuggling on the Zimbabwe/South Africa border does not seem to be connected to the practices of goods-smuggling or human trafficking in the sense that smugglers are not directly involved in these other forms of illegal border crossing.
• The South African border with Zimbabwe is heavily policed, leading to large numbers of arrests and deportations. However, this strictly controlled environment creates opportunities for some individuals within the migration-control structure to engage in corrupt practices that undermine the work of their colleagues.
• Heavy policing of the border is unlikely to alter long-term migration patterns. In fact, it seems that perceptions of strict immigration controls encourage the practice of smuggling.
• Lack of access to clear information about South African immigration policy and border procedures, together with misinformation spread by smugglers, encourages many migrants - including those with legitimate claims for asylum - to enter South Africa informally or to pay for access to asylum permits to which they are entitled free of charge.

Looking beyond 'Illegal economic migration'

A recent FMSP survey of applicants for asylum at South African Refugee Reception Offices (RROs)1 revealed that a lack of knowledge among potential asylum seekers concerning their rights to enter the country legally by claiming asylum at the border. While most survey respondents gave reasons for their migration that suggested they had grounds for asylum, the vast majority (68%) were not aware of their right to asylum before entering South Africa. It is therefore not surprising that a majority of 53% entered South Africa informally. Only 29% of those who crossed informally cited economic reasons alone as their motivation for entry. This picture suggests an environment in which reasons for migrating cannot fully account for the levels of informal border-crossing. Lack of access to accurate information and the availability of human smuggling services appears to play an important role in encouraging undocumented migration.

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