Illegality of International Population Movements in Poland

Abstract

Until the beginning of the 1990s Poland did not receive foreign migrants. Thereafter, the situation changed dramatically. A large part of the inflow proved to be illegal migrants, many of whom were in transit to Western Europe. Although these movements gradually declined in the second half of the decade, some became increasingly identified with relatively sophisticated smuggling of people. Foreigners smuggled from the South to the West, together with the international criminal networks assisting them, became typical of the migratory movements of people in Central and Eastern Europe during the 1990s. This article seeks to describe illegal migration from the perspective of Poland, a country often perceived as a major transit area in the smuggling of persons to Western Europe. The conclusions draw on the findings of several surveys recently carried out in Poland. Basic concepts related to illegal migration are defined and juxtaposed, and various myths and stereotypes concerning it that most often stem from the paucity of empirical evidence are examined. Finally, the trends observed in Poland are interpreted within the larger context of contemporary European migration.

International News Coverage of Human Trafficking Arrests and Prosecutions: A Content Analysis

“…Issues regarding the abilities of governments to collect and record the number of human trafficking offences, combined with the unwillingness or inability of nation-states to gather statistics, create a dearth of reliable empirical data regarding human trafficking (Bruckert & Parent, 2002;Kelly, 2002Kelly, , 2005Laczko, 2002;Laczko & Gramegna, 2003;Okolski, 2000;Tyldum & Brunovskis, 2005, UNODC, 1999. This is especially true for nations without human trafficking legislation.…”

Irregular Migration, Human Smuggling, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union

“…Some of these studies have dealt with irregular migration specific to various locations, for example, to Poland (Okólski, 2000), Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine (Laczko and Thompson, 2000), the former Yugoslavia (Mavris, 2002), Turkey (Içduygu and Toktas, 2002), or Ukraine (Uehling, 2004). Another group of studies have devoted their attention to the ways and means of irregular migration and have focused on the dynamics and organizational structures involved in human smuggling in Europe generally (Müller‐Schneider, 2000; Alt, 2001) or for specific nationalities involved (Finckenauer, 2001).…”

Un Análisis Conceptual Del Tráfico De Mujeres Y Su Tipología De Origen

“…Asimismo, Okolski (2000) señala que parte de este tráfico consiste en guiar o manipular a una mujer durante cualquier etapa del proceso migratorio como tal, debido a que todo acto de explotar a una mujer mediante el engaño o la coacción puede considerarse una forma de tráfico.…”