RT Article
T1 Criminal synergies: Human smuggling and illicit organ removal on the Central Mediterranean route1
JF Theoretical criminology
VO 29
IS 4
SP 397
OP 415
A1 Columb, Seán
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/194069938X
AB The externalisation of European border controls in North Africa is represented and justified by European leaders as the antithesis to the business model of human smuggling and human trafficking. Rather than being in an antithetical relationship, I argue that the European Union is in a symbiotic relationship with criminal groups exploiting the (im)mobility of migrants for profit. My analysis is informed by 37 interviews with African migrants, organ brokers, migration brokers and humanitarian organisations. Their experiences reveal how the convergence of crime and immigration controls along the Central Mediterranean route has led to the development of criminal synergies between different illegal markets, i.e. human smuggling and illicit organ removal.
K1 border security
K1 irregular migration
K1 crime convergence
K1 organ trade
K1 Human Trafficking
K1 illicit organ removal
K1 Human smuggling
DO 10.1177/13624806241281937