Migrant smuggling: European Parliament’s study asks Commission to withdraw new proposal over human rights risks

On 27th February, the research service of the European Parliament published a new study about the European Commission’s proposed rules to tackle migrant ‘smuggling’, which finds that they risk leading to increased criminalisation of migrants and those who help them.

The study focuses on the draft “Facilitation Directive”, which aims to criminalise the facilitation of irregular entry, stay or transit in the EU.

It is remarkable to note that the European Parliament conducted this study as a response to the Commission’s failure to assess human rights risks before proposing the new rules. At the time of this writing, the European Commission has failed to conduct a proper impact assessment of the proposed Facilitation Directive. The authors of the study recommend that the Commission withdraw the proposal until a proper impact assessment is carried out.

The study finds that the proposed Directive exacerbates the conflation of criminal law and migration control. The authors ask to refocus the proposal on combating organised criminal networks as required by international law – instead of expanding the definition of the crime of “smuggling” to activities not linked to organised crime, which would lead to the criminalisation of migrants and people who help them. Crucially the study reflects civil society’s concerns about the lack of a clear, binding clause that would exempt service provision and solidarity from criminalisation.

Silvia Carta, Advocacy Officer at the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, said, “This study reflects what many human rights actors have been denouncing all along: the proposed Facilitation Directive risks leading to more people being arrested, fined or brought to trial for helping people in need, and to migrants themselves being accused of smuggling”.

The study came out after the EU Council voted its negotiating position on the draft Directive last December, also failing to exempt solidarity from criminalisation in a binding article. The European Parliament is expected to vote on its own negotiating position in June 2025.

NOTES TO THE EDITORS:

• The new proposed Facilitation Directive is a redraft of proposed changes to the law criminalising the facilitation of irregular migration (2002 Facilitation Directive), which has also been used to criminalise migrants and people acting in solidarity with them.
• Our position on the new proposed Facilitation Directive can be found here. This briefing includes a table comparing provisions of the 2002 Facilitation Directive with those included in the new draft Facilitation Directive.
• Media inquiries can be sent to Gianluca Cesaro on gianluca.cesaro@picum.org