The Times reports that a deepening economic crisis in Iraq’s Kurdistan region is fuelling the growth of organised people-smuggling networks. High unemployment, delayed public salaries, and political instability are pushing many young men into recruitment by gangs. Smuggling has become embedded in local communities, sustained through local opportunity gaps. This creates a self-reinforcing cycle where hardship drives migration demand and strengthens the smuggling industry.
The Times – I met the smuggling kingpins behind the deadly Channel crossings
