By Alicia Blackham

Definitions of Smuggling and Trafficking

The United Nations clearly defines human trafficking and migrant smuggling as “two very different crimes” despite the fact they are “often confused”.¹ Human trafficking is defined as “a crime involving the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of people through force, fraud or deception for the purpose of exploiting them.”² Meanwhile, migrant smuggling is defined as “the facilitation of irregular entry into a country where the person is not a national or resident. Smugglers engage in this illegal activity for financial or material gain.”³

Despite this difference, migrant journeys can combine elements of both, with women particularly vulnerable to trafficking.⁴ Interpol emphasises that the two “can be linked” and migrants are at risk of being trafficked even if they enter into the journey voluntarily.⁵ The United Nations also notes similarities, such as the involvement of organised criminal groups, corruption, and the international legal frameworks established to address both crimes under the UN Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC).⁶

The Libyan Context in Brief

Abuse of migrants in Libya is well documented. In 2017, the UN Migration Agency described Libya as “the country where migrants are most vulnerable to potential human trafficking and other exploitative practices.”⁷

The prevalence of both smuggling and trafficking in Libya is in large part driven by the 2011 Libyan conflict, which “led to the emergence of armed factions and an economy dominated by violence that has fostered migrant smuggling and trafficking.”⁸ The conflict and resulting lawlessness enabled armed groups to find lucrative business in illicit markets like smuggling and trafficking in which the financial profits are significant.⁹

In an attempt to reduce irregular arrivals from Libya, European policymakers have forged partnerships with Libyan armed groups. Whilst there have been attempts at regulation since 2018, the EU’s partners in Libya, such as the coast guard, have themselves been accused of being complicit in smuggling.¹⁰ Moreover, armed groups have gained further resources through the financing of detention centres aimed at reducing arrivals in Europe. Thus they have “profited from both prevention and facilitation of irregular migration” while arbitrary detention and exploitation of migrants for profit has increased.¹¹

Demonstrating the scope of the problem, the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) registered 6,577 victims of trafficking who had been exploited in Libya between 2005 and 2024, with 70% of those being registered between 2022 and 2024.¹²

Furthermore, migrants intercepted by the Libyan coast guard are often placed in detention centres run by criminal organisations where sexual assault, slavery, extortion, torture, and murder have been recorded.¹³ The United Nations describes the abuse of migrants in Libya as “systematic” and reports that migrants are rounded up and abducted by criminal trafficking networks with links to Libyan authorities.¹⁴ Consequently, migrants in Libya are trapped in a cycle of abuse and exploitation, whereby the same authorities cracking down on smuggling are themselves linked to criminal organisations perpetrating human trafficking and other abuses.

Crackdown on Human Trafficking and Smuggling

Amidst this complex backdrop, Libyan authorities have recently “bolstered efforts to dismantle human trafficking and smuggling networks amid growing international concern over irregular migration flows across the Mediterranean.”¹⁵ This includes increased international cooperation with European states and some efforts to arrest and prosecute traffickers.

In April 2026, Greece’s foreign minister travelled to Tripoli for talks with his Libyan counterpart Taher al-Baour, with both agreeing that a "global approach based on burden-sharing" and “the rules of international law” is needed.¹⁶ In June 2026, Malta and Libya strengthened their cooperation against human trafficking when Malta returned a repaired Libyan patrol boat, emphasising their joint efforts to combat trafficking and reduce irregular migration.¹⁷

Alongside these efforts, there have been a number of recent cases involving the arrest or prosecution of those accused of trafficking in Libya, as well as the recovery of migrants held captive by human traffickers. Whilst these cases offer some evidence of increased efforts to prosecute human traffickers both in Libya and internationally, individual arrests of a handful of perpetrators is unlikely to dismantle the complex networks whereby migrants fall victim to exploitation, abuse and trafficking. The fact that the case of Eritrean Amanuel Walid in The Netherlands was described as “unprecedented” highlights the rarity of successfully identifying and prosecuting human traffickers operating in Libya.

Challenges in Combatting Human Trafficking

The blurred lines between smuggling and trafficking, the scope of trafficking networks, and the prevalence of abuse of migrants creates a challenging landscape for tackling the issue. In Libya armed groups use trafficking and other illegal activities as a significant source of revenue, creating an environment in which trafficking, smuggling and exploitation of migrants also intersect with slavery, drug smuggling, child soldier recruitment, and the exploitation of natural resources.²³ This interconnectedness creates a complex web of illicit activity that makes efforts to combat human trafficking and smuggling particularly challenging.

Some researchers have identified further complexities as a result of the approach taken by European border control forces. Indira Boutier and Leah Owen argue that, as well as the existing ambiguity between trafficking and smuggling, there is also an ambiguity between trafficked peoples as threats and victims. They explain that actors such as the European Border and Coast Guard Agency have oscillated between securitising victims of trafficking as part of border control efforts and viewing them through a more humanitarian lens, in which they are pitied as victims to be protected from traffickers.²⁴

As previously mentioned, European policymakers have forged partnerships in Libya in an attempt to stem the flow of migrants entering Europe. As such, discourse surrounding human trafficking tends to centre on reducing irregular arrivals. For example, when Giorgos Gerapetritis’, Greece’s foreign minister, met with Taher in April, talks “focused on strengthening cooperation to curb migrant smuggling and manage migration flows.”²⁵ This emphasis suggests that a primary aim when combatting trafficking is to limit migrant flows into Europe.

This is particularly significant given that trafficking and migrant smuggling, while linked, should be differentiated, but are often grouped together in policy discussions and partnership building. The Mixed Migration Centre argues that trafficking and smuggling are often deliberately conflated in order to “justify hardline migration measures, including the militarisation and securitisation of borders, which make crossings increasingly dangerous.”²⁶

As a result, combatting trafficking is highly intertwined with efforts to secure borders, but this must also be balanced with human rights considerations and international law commitments.

Different actors may have competing priorities, and the blurred boundary between trafficking and smuggling further complicates efforts to effectively enforce laws against both offenses.

Bish et al. therefore recommend that:

“Given the challenges in neatly categorising some experiences as either smuggling or trafficking under international law, we call for humanitarian protection based on the hardships that people experienced en route, rather than on dichotomous legal categorisations or on their initial motivations for leaving.”²⁷

Furthermore, the Fanack Chronicle of the Middle East and North Africa emphasises that “addressing human trafficking in the Mediterranean requires international cooperation focused on economic development, political stability, and the protection of migrant rights.”²⁸ This highlights the need for a multipronged approach to combatting trafficking that addresses various contributing factors.

Overall, addressing smuggling or trafficking requires more than securing borders, it must take into consideration the various factors such as the complex contexts in which trafficking networks are built and the human rights of migrants and trafficking victims. Consequently, whilst there have been a number of recent arrests of traffickers and rescues of migrants trapped in trafficking dens, the prosecution of individual traffickers is unlikely to dismantle the complex networks behind them.

Recommendations

• Human rights defenders must advocate for the rights of victims of human trafficking in a context where the violation of their rights is often overshadowed by conversations around migrant smuggling and securing borders.
• International law should seek to establish robust humanitarian protections for exploited and trafficked migrants based on the violations they have experienced which avoid being complicated by the blurred definitions of smuggling versus trafficking.
• European policymakers coordinating with Libya in order to secure their borders should also seek to ensure that international law is upheld in regard to the treatment of migrants.