Objectıve Sample Clauses

Objectıve. In the media, the literature and even police investigations, Chinese people who are somehow involved in human smuggling on the wrong side of the law are often nicknamed shetou. This is a Chinese word that literally means ‘snakehead’, and is never applied to other nationalities. It alludes to the head of a snake, which cunningly leads the rest of the body to its destination. Such a term can be distracting however. It clearly focuses on ethnic Chinese smugglers although the smuggling of Chinese people is not always a purely Chi- nese issue. Reports on the investigation of the Dover tragedy for example, show that Dutch and Turkish individuals were also involved. Furthermore, the term shetou says very little about what such a person actually does nor how he cooper- ates with others. It is these two latter questions that in particular have been addressed in some landmark studies (Chin, 1999; Xxxxx, 1997, 2001; Xxxx, 1996; Xxxxx & Xxxx, 2002; Xxxxx & Xxxxxxx, 1996). However, these studies of Chinese human smuggling originate in the United States and hardly pay attention to Europe, let alone the Netherlands. That begs the question to what extent the American findings apply to the Netherlands. The difference in geographical position alone suggests there will be differences in smuggling methods. Furthermore, US society has different laws, a different social security system and a more open labor market than the Netherlands. This can affect the sort of smugglers involved, the choice of destination and perhaps the type of migrant. Another important difference is that the Netherlands is regu- larly used as a transit country (IAM 2005). The US, the land of unlimited oppor- tunity with its ‘golden mountains’, is unlikely to be used for that purpose. Only a few Chinese would want to be smuggled into another country once they had reached America. This has certain consequences. A tight labor market in the Netherlands may prompt migrants to seek better conditions elsewhere. However, if the US employment situation took a turn for the worse, migrants may tighten their belt a little more, work harder or even turn to crime to survive. Little is known about how smuggling to or through the Netherlands is organized. Information from the Netherlands indicates only the global travel routes, the means of transport used or the length of time a smuggling operation takes (Buitenhuis, 2000; INDIAC, 2000). The Dutch authorities report the involvement of triads and groups of major organized...