UN protocol against smuggling of migrants set to come into force

The United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants will enter into force in January next year after Azerbaijan became the fortieth country to ratify the measure.

The protocol against smuggling by land, sea or air, which supplements the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, will enter into force on 28 January, according to a statement issued today by the UN Information Service in Vienna.

The protocol requires participant countries to incorporate its provisions into domestic law, to seek out and prosecute offenders and to improve international cooperation on the issue.

The smuggling of migrants is defined as the procurement of the illegal entry of a person into a state of which they are not a citizen or resident, for financial or material benefit.

The countries that have ratified the protocol are: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Ecuador, France, the Gambia, Jamaica, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lithuania, Mali, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Senegal, Serbia and Montenegro, Spain, Tajikistan, Tunisia and Turkey.