12 hours ago
G7 Leaders' Statement on Countering Migrant Smuggling Français
KANANASKIS, AB, June 17, 2025 /CNW/ - We, the Leaders of the G7, reaffirm our commitment to prevent and counter migrant smuggling through the G7 Coalition to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants and the 2024 G7 Action Plan to Prevent and Counter the Smuggling of Migrants. We are determined to enhance border management and enforcement and dismantle the transnational organized crime groups profiting from both migrant smuggling and human trafficking.
Migrant smuggling often has links to other serious criminal offences, including money laundering, corruption and trafficking in persons and drugs, that threaten the safety of our communities. It can expose vulnerable smuggled persons to grave and life-threatening risks, including physical abuse, sexual and gender-based violence, extortion, labour exploitation, and forced labour and criminality.
Through the G7 Coalition, we have made concrete progress on strengthening the operational and investigative capacities of our law enforcement agencies in the fight against migrant smuggling; and enhancing international cooperation between police, judicial, prosecution and border services.
We task our Interior and Security Ministers to double down on the following areas of the G7 Action Plan this year:
Adopt a "follow the money" approach, exploring innovative solutions that leverage financial intelligence and information-sharing to identify criminal actors; use administrative or judicial processes to hold these criminal actors accountable, seize their assets and strip them of their profits;
Boost prevention with countries of origin and transit through strengthening border management capacities and by raising awareness of the risks;
Collaborate with social media companies to agree on voluntary principles to prevent organized crime groups from exploiting online platforms to advertise, coordinate, and facilitate migrant smuggling operations;
Engage with transport operators to prevent the facilitation of irregular migration, including the weaponization of migrants to undermine stability or as a hybrid warfare tactic.
We will explore, consistent with our legal systems, the potential use of sanctions to target criminals involved in migrant smuggling and human trafficking operations from countries where those activities emanate.
We will continue to leverage synergies with other global and regional initiatives aimed at fostering international cooperation.
We support the continuation of policies for legal migration that members assess to be in their respective national interests. As we work to prevent migrant smuggling and human trafficking, we remain committed to countering all forms of abuse and exploitation of migrants, ensuring protection of the most vulnerable, including refugees and forcibly displaced persons. In so doing, we will meet our respective international human rights commitments.
