Web Application based Image Geolocation Analysis to Detect Human Trafficking

Migrant smuggling is a dangerous phenomenon threatening international peace and security. This global concern for many countries is mainly due to the high use of multimedia devices and social media. There are great demands to specify an in depth gathering of information about a suspect’s mobile device while investigating cases of human trafficking and migrant smuggling. The primary purpose of this study is to help resolve the human trafficking problem that currently faces Sudan. In this paper we cover the steps used to geolocate images captured from suspects and victims’ mobile devices cameras. The obtained images are then analyzed using our specialized developed web application. This latter is built using open-source tools such as the Laravel framework and a Google Maps API which is considered as the main component of the web application. The results of the developed web application on a real case in Sudan has proven its usefulness in easing and speeding up the digital investigation process.

International Cooperation to Counter Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking through Special Investigative Techniques

The adoption of international coordination measures to spread the use of ‘special investigative techniques’ to combat organised crime effectively is encouraged by Article 20 of the UNTOC. This article discusses, firstly, the main features of ‘undercover operations’ involving, or taking place in, more than one State. It then examines the Italian implementation legal framework, as amended by a new law passed in 2019, seeking to establish whether and to what extent Italy is complying with its international commitments in this field.

Smuggled Migrants as Victims?

After outlining the UN Protocol’s general approach to migrant smuggling, this article raises the question of whether and to what extent smuggled migrants can be said to be victims of this crime. The author argues that an affirmative answer is possible in at least three different respects: smuggled migrants can be victimized by states fighting against migrant smuggling and irregular immigration (secondary victimization); but, of course, they can also be victimized by smugglers (primary victimization), in two ways: first, if smuggling is so performed as to put their lives, physical integrity or dignity at risk; secondly, smugglers also victimize migrants by profiting of their vulnerable condition, and their need to enter a foreign country, in order to gain economic benefit.

A Short History of Smuggling of Migrants in International Law

Andreas Schloenhardt describes how the turn to criminalization of migrant smuggling has to be seen against the background of the post-Cold War period and the clamp-down by Western states on smuggling across their borders, reconstructed now as a security threat. The fact that this criminalization remains in tension with the relative neglect of migrant’s human rights he argues, reveals the true nature of the Protocol as a suppression convention.

Asian Pacific Americans Living with HIV Who Were Smuggled Immigrants: A Qualitative Study

Migrant smuggling is a humanitarian crisis that impacts public health. A limited number of studies have focused on the links between migrant smuggling and its impact on the risk of infectious diseases, including HIV, for those smuggled. To explore these links, we conducted in-depth interviews with 11 Asian and Pacific Americans (APA) living with HIV in New York and Los Angeles. Qualitative content analysis revealed that smuggled immigrants described their experience as one with opportunity and danger. Smuggled immigrants, who aimed to achieve their American dream, were influenced by hometown pioneers who successfully journeyed to the United States and by the prospect of gaining legal status through immigration policy similar to the 1986 amnesty. Unfortunately, the long and dangerous journey exposed the immigrants to health problems, including risk for HIV. Thus, health care providers for immigrants should assess their migration routes and screen for infectious diseases.