The Crime of Migrant Smuggling in Turkish Legal System in The Light of Recent Developments

Abstract

As a result of the quality differences of living standards amongst countries, economic problems, repressive policies, civil wars or geographical discrepancies people wish to leave their own countries and to live in the ones having better social and economic standards. In cases where the legal ways of people to leave their own countries and enter the desired ones were not possible illegal ways come into question. The countries, based on various grounds such as to provide border or public security or human dignity, provide the crime of ‘migrant smuggling’ in their criminal laws to impede uncontrolled migrant flow. In particular, Syrian migrants are trying to go to the different countries due to the Syrian civil war continuing for more than seven years for various reasons being to save their own and family lives and to live in higher economic standards. This struggle on the one hand gives way to fatal wounds in the lives and dignities of the migrants on the other hand causes the countries face insurmountable migration problems. Despite this problem primarily arise in countries sharing border with Syria. –to start with Turkey-it is also becoming a growing problem for the such European countries sharing no border with this country,The crime of migrant smuggling, is prepared in the guidance of the definitions taking place in the additional protocols to The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime. Therefore, the crime of migrant smuggling is prepared (such as the crime of human trade) in the chapter of international crimes in the Turkish Penal Code system. The commission of that crime mostly reveals itself, through criminal organizations, to provide means to have people enter, stay or leave a country in illegal ways for financial profit, the migrants who fall in the hands of such criminal organizations which taking primary roles in the commission of the crime are suffered fatal losses in terms of money and physical integrity.