The victimization of migrants in the on-line world

Kosevaliska, Olga (2022) The victimization of migrants in the on-line world. In: III edition of the Jean Monnet EUWEB Module EU ‘Boundaries’ and Challenges in the Field of Asylum and Migration Management: A Look at the Western Balkans, 01 Apr 2022, Salerno, Italy.

Text Olga Koshevaliska North Macedonia final Salerno 01.04 nn.pdf Download (1MB)

Abstract

The ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe touches on fundamental issues of international law, criminal law and policy, criminology, cyber law – and victimology. Migrants are considered to be vulnerable group that is exposed to a multitude of victimization risks such as smuggling, trafficking, hate crime, violence (physical, psychological and sexual), extortion, blackmail, corruption, theft, killings, kidnaping, xenophobia, discrimination, political oppression and last but not least cyber-crimes. Unfortunately, sometimes there is no fine-line to perceiving if the migrant is a victim or maybe a perpetrator. Sadly to say, migrants are perceived as criminals rather than victims, in particular in the context of illegal smuggling. This is due to the fact that they represent the demand side of the illegal smuggling services, and it is this demand that is considered to be the main motivation for this type of organized crime. The purpose of this presentation will be to address these possible victimization risks of migrants with special emphasis on cyber-crimes. Firstly, well try to define the victimization of migrants in terms of material, physical and emotional harm to migrants and to shortly elaborate their victimization during their ‘journey stage’. Special emphasis will be put on the victimization of migrants in the on-line world. A side from the fact that migrants in the on-line world are severely exposed to xenophobia, hate speech, hate crime, discrimination, etc., there are also an easy target for the hackers and predators who are abusing their personal data and privacy. Migrants and refugees are overexposed in the online world because they cannot pack their whole life and all their belongings in a backpack, so it is convenient for them to transfer important, private things into a digital form. Family photos, birth certificates, social security number, important documents, diplomas, everything is stored in the online world so they can have access to it when they find their new home. The latter facilitates the access to migrant’s personal data and privacy for the ones that want to use their disadvantage position and manipulate with their lives. Easy access to everything abovementioned makes them an easy target for malware attacks, phishing, ransomware, identity thefts, spam, hate speech and hate crimes, data breach, unlawful use of personal data etc.
Key words: migrants, victims, on-line, crimes, cybercrimes, victimization.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Lecture)
Subjects:	Social Sciences > Law
Divisions:	Faculty of Law
Depositing User:	Olga Kosevaliska
Date Deposited:	09 May 2022 09:59
Last Modified:	09 May 2022 09:59
URI:	https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/29746

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