{"id":20402,"date":"2016-11-18T17:55:43","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/digital-refugee-the-impact-of-technology-on-syrian-migrants-and-the-smugglers-who-profit\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:55:43","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:55:43","slug":"digital-refugee-the-impact-of-technology-on-syrian-migrants-and-the-smugglers-who-profit","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/digital-refugee-the-impact-of-technology-on-syrian-migrants-and-the-smugglers-who-profit\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDigital Refugee\u201d: The Impact of Technology on Syrian Migrants and The Smugglers Who Profit"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cDigital Refugee\u201d<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, there are over 65 million displaced people–the most since World War II\u2014 and nowhere is the refugee crisis direr than Syria [1]. Over half the country\u2019s pre-war population has been forced from their homes; some 5 million have fled the country altogether [2].\u00a0 Neighbors have absorbed the vast majority: Turkey has close to 3 million Syrians, while one out of every four people in Lebanon is now a Syrian refugee [3] [4].\u00a0 Yet, international attention focuses disproportionately on the migrant flows to Europe.<\/p>\n

The journey to Europe is dangerous, tragic, and unprecedented: it\u2019s the first mass-scale migration to take place in a digital age with virtually ubiquitous smartphone access. For reference, pre-crisis Syria had 87 mobile phones per 100 citizens [5]; one study found that 86% of Syrian youth in a Jordanian refugee camp owned mobile handsets [6]. Mobile computing power transforms reporting\u2014every migrant can tell their story in photos, videos and texts\u2014as well as their prospects for success and even survival.\u00a0 Access to technologies like Google Maps and instant communication apps enables a viable route through Europe, a rescue call to the Coast Guard, or a compass to guide your swimming when a boat sinks [7] [8].<\/p>\n

Despite the dangers\u20143800 people died in the Mediterranean over the first 10 months of this year [9]\u2014insatiable demand for passage has given birth to pragmatic, ever-evolving suppliers. The risks and rewards of digitization shape these smugglers\u2019 strategies.<\/p>\n

Human Trafficking Inc. <\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

Human smuggling into Europe has become staggeringly big business. Per Europol, the industry generated between $3 and $6 billion of profit in 2015; 90% of asylum-seeking refugees paid for a criminal enterprise\u2019s services [10]. \u00a0Overall annual demand for passage to Europe only grows as economic opportunity wanes and violent conflict soars across the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n

Despite steady demand growth, there is tremendous variability in terms of flow and price.\u00a0 Seasonality is a factor: seafaring routes spike when temperatures are milder (by some accounts, prices can surge 30-50%) [11], [13].\u00a0 Likely the largest distortionary effect is government intervention.\u00a0 Money spent deterring refugees with walls or border patrols doesn\u2019t seem to make a dent in overall demand\u2014it often just shifts the bottlenecks and reallocates migrant flows to new paths of least resistance that are increasingly clandestine and unsafe [12]. The overhang of illegality drives up costs; for example, in Turkey, smugglers can face prison sentences of 1-30 years and up to $15,000, upping the price that smugglers demand [13].\u00a0 Even humanitarian triumphs like Germany\u2019s admission of 1 million new refugees can send demand surging [18].<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

[12]<\/p>\n

\"wapo-migration-flows-and-monthly-sea-arrivals\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[14]<\/p>\n

\"economist-flows-and-quantities-thru-may-2015\"<\/a><\/p>\n

[15]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Against this backdrop, what are the biggest operational impacts of digitization?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n