This snapshot analyses smuggling services and migrant-smuggler dynamics in Mauritania and along the Atlantic migration route using 4Mi migration data. The analysis draws on 467 surveys with migrants and refugees who reported using smuggling services during their journey to or within Mauritania.
Smuggling is often an anticipated component of migration to Mauritania: 65% of respondents had already planned to use a smuggler before departure.
Although often anticipated in advance, smuggling services are commonly arranged at specific stages, particularly at border crossings, rather than across the full journey. Overall, 70% of respondents relied on smugglers for only one segment, and 80% did so specifically to cross into Mauritania.
Even where visa-free arrangements exist, Senegalese and Malian respondents hired smugglers to help them cross into Mauritania.
Smuggling arrangements extend beyond border facilitation: 60% of respondents reported that smugglers provided multiple services, including transportation across borders (64%), support in obtaining travel documents (44%), in-country transportation (40%), and facilitation of interactions with authorities (34%).
Smugglers are often perceived as effective service providers rather than criminals: with 71% reporting they helped achieve their migration objectives and 77% describing them as businesspeople. Only 3% viewed them as criminals.
See also
Smuggling & Trafficking
Key research findings, publications, and FAQs on human smuggling and trafficking.
Photo: Miguel Almario / IOM 2016
What is 4Mi Migration Data?
4Mi is our primary data collection system, based on surveys with refugees and migrants on the move.
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