Editing Smuggling (section)

==Types of smuggling==

===Goods===
[[File:First Opium War Smuggling.jpg|thumb|right|upright|The International Anti-Opium Association, Peking "The War Against Opium"]]
[[File:2018 Signalisation frontière cannabis 04.jpg|thumb|upright|Road sign at the Canada-US border prohibiting cannabis, Abercorn, Québec (2018)]]

Much smuggling occurs when enterprising merchants attempt to supply demand for a good or service that is illegal or heavily taxed. As a result, illegal [[drug trafficking]], and the smuggling of [[weapon]]s ([[Arms trafficking|illegal arms trade]]), as well as the historical staples of smuggling, [[alcoholic beverage|alcohol]] ([[rum-running]]) and [[tobacco]],<ref name=ICLJTU>{{cite news|title=Tobacco Underground|url=http://www.icij.org/project/tobacco-underground|access-date=November 26, 2012|newspaper=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121126011501/http://www.icij.org/project/tobacco-underground|archive-date=November 26, 2012}}</ref> are widespread. As the smuggler faces significant risk of civil and criminal penalties if caught with contraband, smugglers are able to impose a significant price premium on smuggled goods. The profits involved in smuggling goods appear to be extensive. The [[iron law of prohibition]] dictates that greater enforcement results in more potent [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]] and drugs being smuggled.

Profits also derive from avoiding taxes or levies on imported goods. For example, a smuggler might purchase a large quantity of [[cigarette]]s in a place with low taxes and smuggle them into a place with higher taxes, where they can be sold at a far higher margin than would otherwise be possible. It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes within the [[United States]] can lead to a profit of US$2 million.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23384-2004Jun7.html |title=Cigarette Smuggling Linked to Terrorism |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=2004-06-08 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808012833/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23384-2004Jun7.html |archive-date=2007-08-08 }}</ref>

===People smuggling===
{{Main|People smuggling}}
With regard to [[people smuggling]], a distinction can be made between people smuggling as a service to those wanting to illegally migrate and the [[Human trafficking|involuntary trafficking of people]]. An estimated 90% of people who illegally crossed the border between [[Mexico]] and the United States are believed to have paid a smuggler to lead them across.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.havocscope.com/90-percent-of-illegal-immigrants-in-us-paid-human-smuggler-in-1990s/ |title=Mexico Human Smuggling |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100420152055/http://www.havocscope.com/90-percent-of-illegal-immigrants-in-us-paid-human-smuggler-in-1990s/ |archive-date=2010-04-20 }}</ref>

People smuggling can be used to rescue a person from oppressive circumstances. For example, when the [[Southern United States]] allowed [[slavery]], many slaves moved north via the [[Underground Railroad]]. Similarly, during [[the Holocaust]], [[Jewish people]] were smuggled out of [[Germany]] by people such as [[Algoth Niska]].

In October 2023, Spanish police arrested 11 individuals involved in smuggling migrants hidden in trucks at [[Algeciras]] sea border, connected to a network providing forged documents. In the same month, they dismantled another criminal organization focused on supplying fake documents to migrants in Spain, primarily in the agricultural sector.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-10-17 |title=Spain Arrests 11 People Involved in Migrant Smuggling |language=en |work=The National News |url=https://www.schengenvisainfo.com/news/spain-arrests-11-people-involved-in-migrant-smuggling/ |access-date=2023-11-06}}</ref>

===Human trafficking===
[[File:Germany human traffic.JPG|thumb|right|upright|A poster warning the German women and girls about the danger of human traffic in the USA (ca 1900)]]
[[File:Lucy Liu @ USAID Human Trafficking Symposium 02.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Actress and [[List of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassadors|UNICEF Ambassador]] [[Lucy Liu]] spoke out against human trafficking and lauded USAID efforts to increase awareness]]
Trafficking of human beings — sometimes called [[human trafficking]] or, in the case of sexual services, sex trafficking — is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, and on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; the trafficking victim is coerced in some way. Victims do not agree to be trafficked; they are tricked, lured by false promises, or forced into it. Traffickers use coercive tactics including [[deception]], [[fraud]], [[intimidation]], [[solitude|isolation]], physical threats and use of force, [[debt bondage]] or even force-feeding drugs to control their victims.

While the majority of victims are women,<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.havocscope.com/more-than-half-of-slaves-worldwide-are-women/| title = More than half of slaves worldwide are women| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100209044036/http://www.havocscope.com/more-than-half-of-slaves-worldwide-are-women/| archive-date = 2010-02-09}}</ref> and sometimes children, other victims include men, women and children forced or conned into manual or cheap labor. Due to the illegal nature of trafficking, the exact extent is unknown. A U.S. government report published in 2003 estimates that 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46606.htm |title=I. Introduction |publisher=state.gov }}</ref> This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally.

====Child trafficking====
{{main|Trafficking of children}}
According to a study by Alternatives to Combat Child Labour Through Education and Sustainable Services in the Middle East and North Africa Region (ACCESS-MENA) 30% of school children living in border villages of [[Yemen]] had been smuggled into [[Saudi Arabia]].  Child trafficking is commonly referenced as "transporting". Smuggled children were in danger of being [[sexual abuse|sexually abused]] or even killed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/3c8c131ac3c80cdf820542ab42ca7c09.htm|title=Thomson Reuters Foundation|access-date=1 March 2015}}{{dead link|date=September 2016}}</ref> [[Poverty]] is one of the reasons behind child trafficking and some children are smuggled with their parents' consent via a transporter. As many as 50% of those smuggled are children. In the Philippines, between 60,000 and 100,000 children are trafficked to work in the sex industry.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.havocscope.com/children-working-in-the-sex-industry-in-the-philippines/| title = Children working in the sex industry in the Philippines| url-status = live| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100401153715/http://www.havocscope.com/children-working-in-the-sex-industry-in-the-philippines/| archive-date = 2010-04-01}}</ref>

====Human trafficking and migration====
Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants are moved illegally by highly organized international [[Smuggling organization|smuggling and trafficking groups]], often in dangerous or inhumane conditions. This phenomenon has been growing in recent years as people of [[Developing country|low income countries]] are aspiring to enter [[Developed country|developed countries]] in search of jobs. Migrant smuggling and human trafficking are two separate offences and differ in a few central respects. While "smuggling" refers to facilitating the illegal entry of a person into a State, "trafficking" includes an element of [[Exploitation of labour|exploitation]].

The trafficker retains control over the migrant—through force, fraud or coercion—typically in the sex industry, through forced labour or through other practices similar to slavery. Trafficking violates the idea of basic [[human rights]]. The overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children. These victims are commodities in a multibillion-dollar global industry. [[Organized crime|Criminal organizations]] are choosing to traffic human beings because, unlike other commodities, people can be used repeatedly and because trafficking requires little in terms of capital investment.

Smuggling is also reaping huge financial dividends to criminal groups who charge migrants massive fees for their services. Intelligence reports have noted that drug-traffickers and other criminal organizations are switching to human cargo to obtain greater profit with less risk.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/internationalcrime/human_trafficking-en.asp|title=Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling|access-date=1 March 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080624033124/http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/internationalcrime/human_trafficking-en.asp|archive-date=2008-06-24}}</ref>

It is acknowledged that the smuggling of people is a growing global phenomenon.<ref>{{Cite thesis|url=https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:5823a/content|title=Human Trafficking: Women's Stories of Agency|last=Angelis|first=Maria De|type=Ph.D.|publisher=University of Hull|date=January 2012|access-date=2017-03-22|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170323054027/https://hydra.hull.ac.uk/assets/hull:5823a/content|archive-date=2017-03-23}}</ref> It is a [[transnational crime]]. Currently, economic instability appears to be the main reason for illegal migration movement throughout the world. Nevertheless, many of the willing migrants undertake the hazardous travel to their destination country with criminal syndicates specialized in people smuggling. These syndicates arrange everything for the migrants, but at a high price.

Very often the traveling conditions are inhumane: the migrants are overcrowded in trucks or boats and fatal accidents occur frequently. After their arrival in the destination country, their illegal status puts them at the mercy of their smugglers, which often force the migrants to work for years in the illegal labor market to pay off the debts incurred as a result of their transportation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.interpol.int/Public/THB/PeopleSmuggling/Default.asp |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20021012225301/http://www.interpol.int/public/thb/peoplesmuggling/default.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 October 2002 |title=Internet / Home - INTERPOL |access-date=1 March 2015 }}</ref>

===Wildlife===
[[File:Bird smuggler.jpg|thumb|right|A smuggler of rare birds arrested by the [[U.S. Customs and Border Protection]] at a U.S. border]]

[[Wildlife smuggling]] results from the demand for exotic species and the lucrative nature of the trade. The [[CITES]] (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) regulates the movement of endangered wildlife across political borders.<ref name="deccanchronicle">{{cite news|title=Snakes on plane averted as Argentina nabs trafficker |url=http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/latin-america/snakes-plane-averted-argentina-nabs-trafficker-628 |publisher=[[Deccan Chronicle]] |date=December 26, 2011 |access-date=December 27, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111226224304/http://www.deccanchronicle.com/channels/world/latin-america/snakes-plane-averted-argentina-nabs-trafficker-628 |archive-date=December 26, 2011 }}</ref>