We speak legal English. Matters at law. Материалы межвузовской научно-практической конференции (Москва, 27 ноября 2015 г.)

users with whom they can communicate and share information with, 3) see and associate the contact list with other users, generated internally by the system”.

We can consider two approaches to the problem of interaction of law and the Internet. The first one — by analogy with the structure theory of state and law — can be called ”network”. The second one, and also by analogy, normative. The network approach states the following: there should be no laws for the Internet. There is a Declaration of independent virtual space, there is ethics, there is a system of unanimous decisions. The second approach, normative, is as follows. There is a network, a very powerful tool, a serious social phenomenon, and there is an urgent need to publish a huge number of global acts, and it is urgent for the global community to regulate this question as quickly as possible.

Nowadays they have created in Russia a common conceptual legal basis for the development of the communication space, formulated, in particular, in the Strategy of the information society development in the Russian Federation and the Doctrine of information security of the Russian Federation. These acts are the basic strategic documents for the development of information law.

We’d also like to say a few words about such a topical problem as Internet addiction. It was also raised abroad in the 80s of the last century, but in Russia the issue of Internet addiction arose in the beginning of the new Millennium. Today Russia is ahead of many advanced countries as regards the number of Internet users. Internet addiction is formed after half a year of use and is considered by scientists as a phenomenon, not a disease. According to A. Y. Egorov, Internet addiction is a kind of technology addiction.

We believe that the best way to deal with this problem is the addicts’ awareness of the situation. Only the person himself can help himself in this situation. Unfortunately, this question is not regulated legally yet.

The Internet is a unique social environment. The Internet is still little investigated from the point of view of the legal nature of relations arising in connection with its existence and practical application. The network is now tens and hundreds of millions of users and inherently a self-regulating organization created for the purpose of their communication. Hence, it is necessary to support and promote self-regulation and legal measures in the field of social Internet networks.

Ф. Р. Исмаилова

The place and role of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation in the judicial system of the Russian Federation

In accordance with the Federal constitutional law of July 21, 1994, ”On the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, the Constitutional Court is a judicial body of constitutional control that independently exercises judicial power through constitutional proceedings.

The Constitutional Court decides only questions of law, i.e. it stands outside of politics, is not and cannot be either a participant in the political process or an arbiter of political disputes. In each case the Constitutional Court identifies only the legal component

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The Constitution may be imperfect, but the Constitutional Court is not able to do anything about it. By interpretation of the regulations, the Court may make the text clearer, at the same time avoiding any evaluation of the Constitution and its norms.

The Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, on the one hand, being a judicial body, is part of the state power division.

On the other hand, having authority to consider compliance of legal acts or contracts with the Constitution, to resolve disputes on the competence of bodies of state authority, the Constitutional Court protects the principle of the separation of power as the basis of the constitutional order of our state.

Judicial decisions are formally considered to be of legal force only for those cases in which they were made. The Law on the Constitutional Court does not give a clear answer to the question whether the binding nature of the Constitutional Court’s decisions inheres only in its wording or applies to its statement of motivation. This question appeared as a result of a number of norms of the former Law on the Constitutional Court. Primarily, in accordance with the fourth part of Article 46, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation expounded written decisions immediately after their adoption.

The Court could postpone the preparation of a reasoned decision for a period of not more than two weeks, limiting the formulation of the decision, attached to the recording of the judicial proceeding. It could be concluded from this law that only the wording of the operative part of the decision was binding, but not the reasoning.

Today, constitutional justice is one of the main mechanisms in the system of the formation of our democratic society. The very existence of the Constitutional Court in Russia in the process of creating law gives a totally different perspective in comparison with the one that stems from political debates, arguments, not to mention the conflicts that are naturally inscribed in parliamentary activity.

It can be concluded that the article, in theoretical approach, opens new dimensions and opportunities for more thorough and diversified research of the Constitutional Court’s activities. On the other hand, the Constitutional Court decisions being legal acts passed by the Court, obligatory for compliance by all state units, contribute to the creation of all necessary conditions for the further development and improvement of constitutional legislation, and to strengthening law and order.

З. Ш. Каландарова

Legal regulation of polygyny

In the course of dynamics of the social relations the nature of marriage as well as the procedure of its cancellation change essentially which leads to various forms of its legal regulation.

What is the norm of a family? Can it be a union of two men, or a union of two women, or one man and two/three women? These questions are discussed worldwide nowadays.

Historically, polygamy took place in more than 80% of human communities, and, in particular, it was widespread in the Hebrew society, in China, Korea, with some native peoples of America, Africa and Polynesia. In Ancient Greece polygamy was allowed only for completion of human losses in wars. After the increase of the population polygamy was officially forbidden. And in Ancient Rome polygamy was forbidden.

In the Russian Empire merchants having families in the cities which were terminal points of their trade ways became illegal polygamists. It was possible as such a relationship

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status wasn’t specified in the pass granting the right to move about the country. After it was found, the column эrelationship statusэ which passed into the passport subsequently was added to the pass.

The question of polygamy began to be discussed actively after the so-called Chechen wedding. The head of administration of the Governor of Chechnya Mahomed Daudov suggested legalizing this practice. He explained the idea with a wide outspread of polygamy in the Caucasus.

Experts say that de facto polygamy took place in a number of the national republics in the Russian Empire as well as at the time of the USSR, and it does now. The question is whether it is necessary to specify it in legislation or to leave it as it is. There is also an opposite point of view — to imprison for polygamy as it used to be before.

In July, 1999, in Ingushetia, according to the decree of President Aushev, polygamy was officially authorized and registry offices were to register such marriages. However, almost at once this decree was formally suspended by the decree of the president of Russia.

After cancellation of the norms of Ingushetia all polygamous marriages were cancelled, records of all wives were deleted in the new passports.

In the Soviet Union there was Article 235 in the Criminal Code which provided criminal liability for polygamy. It included not only cases of legal registration of marriage, but also the actual cohabitation with more than one woman.

Since 1993 Vladimir Zhirinovsky and some other Russian politicians have suggested legalizing polygamy on all the territory of the country, including the non-Muslim population, as a cure of the demographic crisis.

A survey conducted in 2006 showed that the attitude of two thirds of Russians to polygamy legalization was negative. In 2015 22% of respondents spoke pro it.

Polygamy is authorized not in all Muslim countries. It is forbidden by law in Turkey, Tunisia and Algeria.

In the USA polygamy has been forbidden since 1882, in France — since 1993, but the state does an exception for migrants. Meanwhile in some countries polygamy doesn’t contradict the law: the current South African President has, for example, eight wives, and the ex-king of Swaziland became the champion — he had 70 wives.

I suppose that the state has to concede to religious traditions and adopt a law allowing polygamy in Russia. Besides, religious customs solve another problem —shortage of men. The number of women in the Russian Federation is much higher than that of men so not all men should be full-fledged husbands.

В. А. Карасев, Т. Р. Мовсисян

The United Nations

The United Nations, or UN, is an international organization established in 1945 and now it is made up of 192 states.

The UN membership is open to all ”peace-loving states” that accept the obligations of the UN Charter and are able and willing to fulfill these obligations. The General Assembly determines admission upon recommendation of the Security Council.

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The United Nations System is based on six principal bodies: 1) The UN General Assembly; 2) The UN Security Council; 3) The UN Economic and Social Council; 4) The UN Trusteeship Council; 5) The UN Secretariat; 6) The International Court of Justice. The Court has its seat at The Hague, Netherlands. All the other bodies are based at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

UN peacekeepers are sent to various regions after an armed conflict in order to enforce the terms of peace agreements. These forces are provided by the UN member states; the UN does not maintain any independent military. All UN peacekeeping operations must be approved by the Security Council.

In conjunction with other organizations, such as the Red Cross, the UN provides food, drinking water, shelter and other humanitarian aid to inhabitants suffering from famine, displaced by war or suffering from some other disaster.

The six official languages of the United Nations include those of the founding nations: Chinese, English, French, Russian as well as Spanish. In addition, Arabic was added in 1982. All formal meetings are interpreted in these official languages. Additionally, all official documents, in print or online, are translated into all these languages.

The United Nations is an organization of sovereign nations representing almost all the humanity. It considers maintenance of international peace and security as its primary goal. Additionally, its purposes call for the development of friendly relations among nations based on equal rights and self-determination of peoples and, through international co-operation, the solution of problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian nature.

The United Nations is the meeting-place where representatives of all member states — great and small, rich and poor, with various political views and social systems — have a voice and an equal vote in shaping a common course of action.

The United Nations has played, and continues to play, an active role in reducing tension in the world, preventing conflicts and putting an end to fighting already under way.

The Secretariat services the other bodies of the United Nations and administers the programmes and policies laid down by them. Over 20,000 men and women are employed by the United Nations with about one-third of them at the Headquarters and the other two-thirds stationed around the globe. Staff members are recruited primarily from member states and are drawn from more than 140 nations. As international civil servants, each takes an oath not to seek or receive instructions from any government or outside authority.

Working for the United Nations, mostly ”behind the scenes” at the Headquarters, there are linguists, economists, editors, social scientists, legal experts, librarians, journalists, statisticians, broadcasters, personnel officers, administrators and experts in all the varied fields of activities covered by the United Nations. They prepare reports and studies requested by various bodies of the United Nations; they issue press releases and produce publications, broadcasts and films giving information about the United Nations; and they perform the administrative duties needed to implement resolutions adopted by the various organs. In addition, there are stenographers, clerks, engineers and technicians, tour guides and also a body of security officers in blue-grey uniforms who are responsible for the security of the United Nations Headquarters. At the head of the Secretariat is the Secretary-General. The main Headquarters of the United Nations are based in New York. The United Nations Organization Secretariat occupies the higher building. The General Assembly is held in the lower building.

The History of UN

The term of ”United Nations” was coined by Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II to refer to the Allies. Its first formal use was in the January 1, 1942 Declaration by the United Nations which committed the Allies to the principles of the Atlantic Charter

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and pledged them not to seek a separate peace with the Axis powers. Thereafter, the Allies used the term ”United Nations Fighting Forces” to refer to their alliance.

The idea for the United Nations was elaborated in declarations signed at the wartime allied conferences in Moscow, Cairo, and Tehran in 1943. From August to October, 1944, representatives of France, the Republic of China, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the USSR met to elaborate the plans in Washington, D.C. Those and later talks produced proposals outlining the purposes of the organization, its membership and organs, as well as arrangements to maintain international peace and security and international economic and social cooperation. These proposals were discussed and debated by governments and private citizens worldwide.

On April 25, 1945, the United Nations Conference on International Organizations began in San Francisco. In addition to the Governments, a number of non-government organizations were invited to assist in the drafting of the Charter. The 50 nations represented at the conference signed the Charter of the United Nations two months later on June 26. Poland, which was not represented at the conference, but for which a place among the original signatories had been reserved, added its name later, bringing the total of original signatories to 51. The UN came into existence on October 24, 1945 after the Charter had been ratified by the five permanent members of the Security Council — the Republic of China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States — and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.

The United Nations headquarters building was constructed in New York City in 1949 and 1950 beside the East River on the land purchased by an 8.5-million-dollar donation from John D. Rockefeller, Jr., and designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The UN headquarters officially opened on January 9, 1951. While the principal headquarters of the UN are in New York, there are major agencies located in Geneva, The Hague, Vienna, Montreal, Bonn.

The UN membership is open to all peace-loving states that accept the obligations of the UN Charter and are able and willing to fulfill these obligations.

To conclude, we’d like to stress that since its foundation the UN has been and will be one of the most important organizations although it needs to be reformed to adapt to changing circumstances.

Е. В. Климова

Capital punishment in Russia

I would like to say a few words about the history of capital punishment in Russia. I think it’s necessary to consider the development of the idea of capital punishment in Russia to understand the possibility of using it today and consider its pros and cons.

Firstly, we know capital punishment as lawful infliction of death. Since ancient times it has been used for a wide variety of offences. The Bible prescribes death for murder and many other crimes including kidnapping and witchcraft. It was a very widespread way of punishment in medieval Europe, but later, by 1500, only violent felonies faced death penalty, for example, in England, for treason, murder, larceny, burglary, rape, and arson.

The Russian Empire practiced death penalty too. One of the first legal documents resembling a modern penal code was enacted in 1398, which mentioned a single capital

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crime: theft performed after two prior convictions (an early precursor to the current Three-strikes laws existing in several U.S. states). The Pskov Code of 1497 significantly extends this list, mentioning three specialized instances of theft (committed in church, stealing a horse, or, as before, with two prior ”strikes”), as well as arson and treason. The trend to increase the number of capital crimes continued: in 1649, this list included 63 crimes, a figure that was nearly doubled during the reign of Tsar Peter I (Peter the Great). The methods of execution were extremely cruel by modern standards (but fully consistent with the standards of that time), and included drowning, burying alive, and forcing liquid metal into the throat.

Elizabeth did not share her father’s views on the death penalty, and officially suspended it in 1744, effectively enacting a moratorium. This lasted for 11 years, at which point the death penalty was permitted again. Later Catherine the Great, who had liberal views, in her Nakaz expressed a disdain for the death penalty, considering it to be improper, adding: ”In the usual state of society, death penalty is neither useful nor needed”. However, an explicit exception was still allowed for the case of someone who, even while convicted and incarcerated, ”still has the means and the might to ignite public unrest”.

In 1824, the very existence of such a punishment was among the reasons for legislature’s refusal to approve a new version of the Penal Code. Just one year later, the Decembrist revolt failed, and the court sentenced 36 of the rebels to death. Nicholas I’s decision to commute all but five of the sentences was highly unusual for the time, especially taking into account that revolts against the monarchy had almost universally resulted in automatic death sentences, and was perhaps due to society’s changing views of the death penalty. By the late 1890s, capital punishment for murder was virtually never carried out, substituted with 10 or 15 years imprisonment with hard labor, although it was still performed for treason.

The death penalty was officially outlawed on March 12, 1917 following the February Revolution and the establishment of the Russian Republic. On May 12, 1917, the death penalty became allowed for soldiers on the front.

The Soviet government confirmed the abolition almost immediately after assuming power. But later the death penalty was alternately permitted and prohibited, sometimes in very quick succession. Under the rule of Joseph Stalin, many were executed during the Great Purge in the 1930s. Many of the death sentences were pronounced by a specially appointed triple-person commission of officials, the NKVD troika. It was a terrible period in Russian history.

After World War II, the death penalty was again outlawed and substituted with imprisonment for 25 years, but soon restored again: first for treason and espionage, and then for aggravated murder. The Penal Code of 1960 significantly extended the list of capital crimes, but the practical rarity of the death penalty’s application was not changed. In most cases (96 percent according to 1987 statistics), only murders of several people, of children, or those committed in an especially cruel manner were punished by death. According to 1985-1989 statistics, the death penalty was applied for less than once in 2000 sentences.

Nowadays capital punishment in Russia has been indefinitely suspended, although it is theoretically allowed, with the only legal method being shooting. There exists both an implicit moratorium established by President Yeltsin in 1996 (that was adopted because one of the absolute requirements for joining the Council of Europe was that the death penalty cannot be carried out for any crime at all) and an explicit one, established by the Constitutional Court of Russia in 1999 and which was most recently reaffirmed in 2009. Russia has not executed anyone since 1996, and the regulations of the Council of Europe prohibit it from doing so at any time in the future. However, the death penalty still remains in the statute books.

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On the bases of the aforesaid, we can come to the conclusion that The Russian Empire extensively practiced death penalty, as did almost all countries before the 20th century. And there is no doubt that periods when it was often and extremely cruelly practiced like the 1930-s are the most horrible ones in the history of Russia.

I can’t help mentioning that the use of capital punishment was a successful deterrent to political crimes. For example, the terrible execution of Pugachev and later exponential penalty of the Decembrists stopped for a while attempting a coup d’etat.

Sometimes this kind of punishment was useful because it prevented people from committing crimes. But for sure capital punishment is inhumane and barbaric. I believe that using capital punishment as an extreme penalty in the law of modern Russia will throw it back to the dark ages of the past. In modern societies it is possible to find effective alternative punishments.

But most of the Russian population are in favor of the death penalty. According to a 2006 FOM survey, which was conducted on the 10th anniversary of the moratorium, the death penalty was supported by three quarters of the responders, and only four percent of them favored the abolition of the death penalty. The moratorium itself was opposed by 55 percent of the responders and supported by 28 percent of the responders. Those supporting the moratorium had, on average, a higher level of education, lived in large cities and were younger. Death penalty support is only natural because people can ask why they must pay taxes and maintain prisoners that had committed serious crimes?

The question of capital punishment is still of current interest and it is discussed almost everywhere. Russia faces a choice to restore capital punishment or to extend the moratorium. But I think that the life imprisonment is even more harsh punishment than death penalty because criminals are forced to live with a feeling of guilt and pangs of conscience all their life.

Е. А. Ковалец

The Legal Status of Refugees in the Russian Federation

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) countries faced to migration. People try to escape conflict or violence, escape poverty or seek proper healthcare or job. Nowadays Russian Federation is asked for refuge for residents from post-soviet countries. And it might have negative effect on situation inside the country. It might cause economic and social problems, cultural erosion and so on. So international normative legal acts and laws of the Russian Federation on status of refugees are constantly changing. Therefore, basics of the legal status of refugees are constantly in need of rethinking and studying.

Moreover, according to the statistics of the Federal Migration Service of Russian Federation 15 million and 335 thousand people arrived in Russia in 2015. About 299 thousand received the permission for temporary residence.

The object of the work is the international normative legal acts and laws of the Russian Federation that regulate the status of refugees. The subject of the work is basis of the legal status of refugees in Russia.

The purpose of the research is determination of the legal status of refugees and finding out the role of the state in providing status of refugees.

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Objectives of the work:

•study information about the problem;

•study basics of the legal status of refugees (rights and obligations);

•study basics of receiving and losing of the status of refugees;

•make the conclusion and analyse the results.

The United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees has adopted this term to apply to any person who ”is owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country”.

According to the law of Russian Federation №4528-1 of February 19, 1993 on refugees, the person who applies for the recognition as a refugee is a person who is not a citizen of the Russian Federation and who expresses his or her wish to be recognized as a refugee. Such person if he or she has attained the age of 18 should apply for the status of a refugee personally or through the duly authorized representative in written form.

A certificate of the standard form should be issued to a person who has been recognized as a refugee and who has attained the age of 18 by the federal executive body responsible for the migration service or by its territorial agency. A certificate should also be handed over to the person who has been recognized as a refugee but who has not attained 18 years of age and has arrived in the Russian Federation without the accompaniment of his parents or guardians. The certificate should be valid throughout the territory of the Russian Federation.

The person recognized as a refugee and his family members who have arrived together with him should have the rights such as the right to use services of interpreter and receive information about his rights and duties, and also other information; right to receive food and use public utilities in the center of temporary accommodation; the right to receive medical aid on a par with citizens of the Russian Federation; the right to receive the work for hire or to carry on business on a par with citizens of the Russian Federation; the right to receive the social protection on a par with citizens of the Russian Federation; the right to return to the State of his nationality or his usual place of residence.

The person recognized as a refugee and members of his family should also have obligations such as obligation to observe the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal laws and other normative legal acts of the Russian Federation, and also the laws and other normative legal acts of the subjects of the Russian Federation; obligation to observe the established order of residence and to fulfill the sanitary and hygienic requirements of living on the center of temporary accommodation; obligation to inform the relevant bodies about intention to change the place of residence on the territory of the Russian Federation or to leave the territory of the Russian Federation for a new place of residence.

The person recognized as a refugee might lose the status of a refugee in such cases as receiving the permission for the permanent residence on the territory of the Russian Federation; acquiring the citizenship after losing it; establishing in the state which was left.

A person might be deprived of the status of a refugee if he or she has been convicted for the commission of a crime on the territory of the Russian Federation; has intently given false information or has presented false documents, which had served as a ground for the recognition as a refugee, or has broken the Law of Russian Federation on refugees; has committed administrative offense related to drug trafficking.

Person recognized as a refugee has some guarantees of his rights. A person who applies for the recognition as a refugee or who has been recognized as a refugee, or has lost the status of a refugee, or has been deprived of the status of a refugee, may not be returned against his will to the territory of the state of his nationality or his former usual residence.

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Besides, decisions and actions (inaction) of the federal executive bodies and the executive bodies of the subjects of the Russian Federation, the local self-government bodies connected with the execution of Law of Russian Federation on refugees may be appealed against in a higher body or in a court.

Thus, refugee is a person who has been forced to leave his or her country on order to escape war, persecution or other disasters. Refugee is someone who has lost protection of the state of his nationality and cannot protect himself. So he has to ask another state to provide his rights: to give him protection, medical aid, social security, place of temporary residence, education for his children and so on.

The state has major role in providing the status of refugees. First of all, it creates and modifies laws. Therefore, it establishes rights and obligations of refugees, order of receiving and losing the status of refugees. Secondly, state services make a decision on giving the status of refugee to someone. They consider applications for receiving the status of refugees and give the certificate that person is recognized as a refugee. The state also guarantees rights of refugees. It enacts the law and punishes people who break the Law on refugees.

А. А. Колесникова, Д. И. Михеев

Terrorism as a socially dangerous act in the modern world

Therearesomanyproblemsinthemodernworld,suchasglobalwarming,environmental issues, shortage of natural resources, earthquakes, floods and other disasters. But one of the most dangerous of all is terrorism.

In its broadest sense, terrorism is any act designed to cause terror. In a narrower sense, terrorism can be understood to feature a political objective. The word of terrorism is politically loaded and emotionally charged. Also terrorism is a term used to describe violence or the perception or threat of imminent violence.

Types of Terrorism:

Civil Disorders. A form of collective violence interfering with the peace, security, and normal functioning of the community.

Political Terrorism. Violent criminal behavior designed primarily to generate fear in the community, or substantial segment of it, for political purposes.

Non-Political Terrorism. Terrorism that is not aimed at political purposes but which exhibits ”conscious design to create and maintain high degree of fear for coercive purposes, but the end is individual or collective gain rather than the achievement of a political objective”.

Quasi-Terrorism. The activities incidental to the commission of crimes of violence that are similar in form and method to genuine terrorism but which nevertheless lack its essential ingredient. It is not the main purpose of the quasi-terrorists to induce terror in the immediate victim as in the case of genuine terrorism, but the quasi-terrorist uses the modalities and techniques of the genuine terrorist and produces similar consequences and reaction. For example, the fleeing felon who takes hostages is a quasi-terrorist,

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whose methods are similar to those of the genuine terrorist but whose purposes are quite different.

Limited Political Terrorism. Genuine political terrorism is characterized by a revolutionary approach; limited political terrorism refers to “acts of terrorism which are committed for ideological or political motives but which are not part of a concerted campaign to capture control of the State.

Official or State Terrorism is referring to nations whose rule is based upon fear and oppression that reach similar to terrorism or such proportions.

Today we hear more and more news about terrorists. Each year different countries face terrorism. A lot of people suffer from terroristic acts. Some die, some get wounded; others lose their loved ones. An example is the recent incident in France. On the night of November 14th in Paris there was a series of terrorist attacks, recent data show more than 150 dead and hundreds of wounded. All Russians mourn and sympathize with the French. They brought a lot of flowers to the Embassy of France in Russia.

Terrorism also occurs on basis of religious matters. It is especially sad when children become the target of terrorists. This incident happened in Kenya in April 2015, when at least 147 students were killed. First it was thought that firing was aimed at all the students indiscriminately, but then it turned out that the goal of the terrorists were Christians. There survived only Muslims who knew the text of the Quran.

I think that terrorism is not just a problem, it’s a global disaster. People should unite and confront it together!

К. В. Колобов, А. А. Лескин

People smuggling and human trafficking

Human smuggling and trafficking are two of the fastest growing transnational criminal activities, and are thought to be the most lucrative forms of organized crime after drug trade. While most victims are located in Asia, Western Europe has become a major destination point. Smugglers and traffickers make substantial profits from thousands of people who seek to enter Europe illicitly.

What is migrant smuggling?

Article 3 of the Protocol against Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air, supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (the Migrant Smuggling Protocol) defines migrant smuggling 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”.

In addition, Article 6 of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol requires states to criminalize producing, procuring, providing or possessing fraudulent travel or identify documents when it is done for the purpose of enabling smuggling of migrants.

The differences between people smuggling and human trafficking

In short, what begins as a situation of migrant smuggling may develop into a situation of human trafficking.

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