Regional Roundtable on Irregular Migration by Sea in the Asia-Pacific Region

Presented by: Peter Elms Immigration New Zealand

Focus on Prevention

Two broad concerns: • Responding efficiently and humanely to an irregular migration event • Preventing such events happening in the first place.

Other panellists will address the former; this presentation is on the latter.

Supply & Demand

• What can we do, individually and collectively, to prevent irregular movements by sea?

• To do so we must reduce the role of people smugglers in our region • By reducing the demand for the services of the smugglers it follows that the supply will reduce • The question therefore for economies is how do we address our own push / pull factors that incentivise people to use people smugglers

Influencing Push / Pull Factors

• Addressing the environmental factors that push people to place their lives in the hands of smugglers • Ensure refugee protection and determination processes are in place and working efficiently • Provide refugee re-settlement opportunities to incentivise the use of legitimate processes • Maintain effective immigration policies and border controls to deal effectively with illegal migration

Influencing Push / Pull Factors

continued

• Criminalisation • Ratification of the UNTOC and its protocols •on trafficking in person •Smuggling of migrants • National legislation that makes people smuggling illegal • Critical first steps

Investigation / Intelligence

• National authorities properly trained and resourced to pursue people smuggling syndicates • Intelligence agencies willing and able to focus on people smuggling ventures • Sharing intelligence both domestically and internationally

Public Awareness - Information Campaigns

• To persuade people not to use the service of people smugglers • Many lessons learned: Some messages work better than others Some methods of delivery work better Need to tailor to the audience Need to pool information develop best practice

Cooperation

• International agreements on combined prevention, disruption and deterrence measures • Both national and international Share information Share expertise Capacity building

Good News !

• Bali Process is already contributing on all these fronts: International cooperation, including the RSO Also with UNHCR, IOM, UNODC Sharing information (including UNODC Voluntary Reporting System) Workshop on UNTOC protocols • How working on policy guides for national implementation Training on investigation/prosecution • New links forming between RSO and JCLEC and other regional institutions Intelligence : Forum hosted by New Zealand Information campaigns : some work in 2009; RSO interested in developing a project