Toolkit to Combat Smuggling of Migrants

Virtually every country in the world is used by profit-seeking criminals for smugglingmigrants—either as a country of origin, a transit country or a country of destination (or acombination thereof). Smuggled migrants are vulnerable to exploitation and their lives areoften put at risk: thousands of people have suffocated in containers, perished in deserts ordrowned at sea while being smuggled to another country. The smuggling of migrants andthe activities related to it generate enormous profits for the criminalsinvolved and fuelcorruption and organized crime.The Conference of theParties to the United Nations Convention againstTransnational Organ-ized Crimeinits decision 4/5 on the implementation of the Protocol against the Smugglingof Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention againstTransnational Organized Crime, welcomed the efforts undertaken to provide guidance andinformation on best practices in the areas of training and capacity-building, as well as aware-ness-raising strategies to prevent and combat the smuggling of migrants. The T oolkit is anexample of such efforts.