Mediterranean Sea migrant smuggling

According to the United Nations, human smuggling is defined as "the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident."^[1] While flows of migration have come and gone throughout history, current numbers surrounding human movement are unprecedented. Geographic, economic, and demographic factors create distinct migration patterns and routes over time. In 2020, there were 281 million international migrants across the globe, making up 3.6% of the global population. Though this is a small percentage of the total population, the number of individuals residing in states outside of where they were born has more than tripled since 1970.^[2] Looking at the most recent migration events in the Mediterranean, crossing the sea has been a primary method smugglers use to enter migrants into Europe. Since the 2015 Migration Crisis, the Central Mediterranean region has been declared the deadliest migration route in the world. Nearly 28,000 irregular migrants have arrived in Europe in 2024, with over 11,000 crossing the Mediterranean Sea in the process.^[3]