less travelled and more dangerous routes.48 The Migration Data Portal noted that more than two-thirds of refugees and migrants surveyed in Libya and half of those surveyed in West Africa between May 2017 and September 2019 used a smuggler on their journey.49 Many smuggling or trafficking operations are facilitated, directly or indirectly, by State agents (such as border and immigration officials, law enforcement officials, members of the armed forces, or port authorities).50 One such smuggling network has been identified in Egypt and Sudan, whereby a combination of smugglers, traffickers, and local government officials work together to capture and sell Eritrean migrants.51 Similarly, State actors in Libya have reportedly collaborated with criminal gangs involved in smuggling and trafficking who have established detention centres and are, in practice, responsible for controlling the flow of migrants throughout the country.52 As reported by the UN, when migrants are intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard during their migratory journeys, they are typically transferred to these detention centers or to other private houses and farms, where the risk of ED is high.53 Bodies have allegedly been dumped and abandoned by smugglers in Libya,54 and bodies in Tunisia were allegedly dumped into mass graves without being identified.55 prosecute humanitarian actors seeking to rescue or otherwise protect migrants in danger.58 The phenomenon of “privatised pushbacks”, whereby the Libyan coastguard requests assistance from merchant ships rather than humanitarian rescue boats so that the migrants are returned to Libya, has been viewed as an intentional tactic to circumvent the principle of non-refoulement.59 The interception, “pushback” and deportation of migrants to their countries of origin or another country can result in ED, particularly where migrants are returned to the custody of State agents without any guarantee of their safety.60 The WGEID has examined several cases of pushbacks leading to ED: • In 2007, several cases dealing with the alleged disappearance of Algerian “Harraga” migrants travelling by boat in Tunisian territorial waters on their way to Italy were referred to the WGEID.61 • More recently, Spanish authorities are reported to have handed migrants over to Moroccan authorities without following procedures to ensure their safety.62 • Sudan, as a major transit country for migrants travelling to Europe, has repeatedly returned Eritrean migrants in disregard of its obligations under international law.63 States’ deterrence policies have come under scrutiny for putting migrants in danger.56 Increased EU spending in Africa to reduce the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean – and in particular in Libya, where the EU has outsourced some functions of migration management to Libyan authorities – has been criticized by human rights organisations as “fuelling a criminal economy of exploitation and traffic.”57 Furthermore, EU anti-smuggling laws have been used to 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 Further, a denial of due process guarantees in immigration detention facilities heightens the risk of exposure to ED, with immigration detention considered as one of the most opaque areas of public administration.64 As noted above, Libyan detention facilities Ibid, at para. 66. Migration Data Portal, Smuggling networks along the Central Mediterranean Route, 14 October 2020. Bernard Duhaime and Andréanne Thibault, supra note 46, at p. 584. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 38. Ibid, at para. 39. Ibid, at para. 39; UN News, UN rights office concerned over migrant boat pushbacks in the Mediterranean, 8 May 2020. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para 45; International Organization for Migration (“IOM”), Fatal Journeys, Volume 2, Identification and Tracing of Dead and Missing Migrants (Geneva, 2016), p. 20. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para 45; IOM, Fatal Journeys, Volume 2, Identification and Tracing of Dead and Missing Migrants, supra note 54, p. 33. UN OHCHR, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, François Crépeau, A/HRC/20/24, 2 April 2012, paras 8 and 13. The Guardian, EU Rebuked for €36bn Refugee Pushback Gambit by Patrick Wintour, 20 June 2018. UN HRC, Report of the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on Extra-judicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Saving Lives is Not a Crime, A/73/314, 7 August 2018. The New York Times, Privatized Pushbacks: How Merchant Ships Guard Europe by Patrick Kingsley, 20 March 2020. Bernard Duhaime and Andréanne Thibault, supra note 46, at pp. 580–583. Ibid. at p. 581. Ibid. Dabanga, Sudan Deports Another 36 Eritrean Migrants, 20 September 2017; Committee to Protect Journalists, For Exiled Eritreans in Sudan, fear Greater than most by Sheryl Mendez, 19 June 2012. UN WGEID, Enforced disappearances in the context of migration, supra note 44, at para. 23. 19