As the UK, Australia and other countries responsible for establishing the international refugee protection scheme have increased deterrents to asylum seekers, countries such as Iran and Pakistan, with economic problems and much larger refugee populations, have followed suit. As a result, what was once a relatively visible and quantifiable flow of people seeking asylum has become a covert, irregular movement that is ever more difficult to control.

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It is estimated that every year, four million people are trafficked or smuggled across international borders. The value of this criminal trade has been estimated at approximately $US10 billion per year.

The illegal industry continues to boom as Western 'receiver' nations narrow legal avenues for asylum seekers to find protection. Hence, the demand for illegal access increases and supply emerges to meet demand. Factors such as the breakdown of national borders, the revolution in communications and information and the availability of transportation help fuel the trafficking of people.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) acknowledges that people smuggling is "a sad reflection on a variety of factors, including poverty, tightened migration policies, violent conflicts and abuse of human rights".

Amnesty International Australia recognises that smuggling and trafficking people are significant international issues that need global attention and understanding and we acknowledge and uphold the right of nation states to maintain border integrity.

We recognise that organised people smuggling undermines a government's right to police who may or may not enter a country. However, we strongly denounce the punitive effect on refugees of the policies the Australian government has put in place to stop people smuggling.

Smuggling or trafficking?

Australian authorities draw the following distinction between people smuggling and people trafficking:

"People smugglers are paid by those who wish to enter a country illegally. The people wishing to migrate are involved voluntarily. People traffickers, on the other hand, use coercion and/or deception, to force people to illegally enter a country. Once the illegal immigrants are in place, people traffickers often continue to exploit them" (Australian Federal Police website).

Amnesty International Australia is concerned that such a narrow distinction is made between the two terms. There are many cases where refugees have used people smugglers because their choices are extremely limited. Asylum seekers are usually desperate and people smugglers are often deceptive, eliciting further funds from the refugee once they arrive and making threats against family members left behind. There are reports of false promises in relation to visas, treatment and even destination.

Why asylum seekers are resorting to illegal entry?

Most asylum seekers resorting to illegal entry are desperate people seeking escape from intolerable situations by whatever means they can find.

What they pay people smugglers often represents their life's savings or those of their entire family, or even contributions from entire communities. The asylum seeker then places his or her life in the hands of strangers to travel to Australia on a boat that is generally overloaded and unsafe.

Legal avenues available to asylum seekers to access protection under the Refugee Convention are limited and so is help available from the UNHCR in its many cross-border refugee camps. Australia does not have large numbers of foreign posts near major refugee producing regions. According to reports from the Catholic Commission for Justice, Development and Peace, those it does have face overwhelming problems of under-staffing, under-resourcing and bribery.

In some nations, such as Somalia, there is no possibility of obtaining a passport, let alone a legal visa to enter Australia. In others, such as Iran and China, the state has been the source of persecution and approaching the state or foreign embassies for travel documents or attempting to leave through official channels is dangerous to the asylum seeker and their extended family.

Moreover, those who do manage to flee their home country where they face persecution are not guaranteed safety. Neighbouring countries are not always signatories to the Refugee Convention, some instigate further persecution, and others are simply unable to provide protection.

The UNHCR is working beyond its capacity and is severely under resourced. In 2008, it estimated that there are some 2.7 million internally displaced Iraqis and 1.5 million Iraqis living in neighbouring states, particularly Syria and Jordan. Given the large refugee populations and the internal issues of these countries, it is not surprising that refugees are forced to use people smugglers.

Is Australia being targeted?

Australia is relatively insulated from the full impact of global people smuggling. Even on a per capita basis, we receive far fewer unauthorised asylum seekers than major European nations.

According to the UNHCR, more than 67,000 people travelled on boats to the European coast, 38,000 of whom landed in Italy. Also in 2008, more than 51,000 asylum seekers crossed the Gulf of Aden making their way from Somalia to Yemen by boat.

In contrast, only 164 unauthorised asylum seekers arrived in Australia by sea during 2008, most of whom were fleeing violence in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Considering that Australia accepted over 13,000 refugees in 2008, boat arrivals are an insignificant part of Australia’s refugee quota (just over 1 percent). This statistic belies claims that the Rudd administration’s more humane immigration policy will lead to a flood of ‘boat people’.

Victims of persecution often choose Western countries as their destination because these are seen as countries where democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law prevail. Different smuggling operations send their clients to different countries.

Amnesty International Australia acknowledges the difficulties facing the Australian government in confronting the issue of people smuggling. However, it is not acceptable to prejudge the credibility of an asylum seeker's claim or their means of entry, or to presume that somehow one type of refugee is inherently more deserving than another.