Part a Timor-Leste As a Country of Origin

UNODC – Smuggling of Migrants in Asia, Report
Country Profile: Timor-Leste / 1

Country Profile for

Timor-Leste

Information about the smuggling of migrants into, from, and through Timor-Leste is extremely limited. There appears to be a certain level of irregular migration across the border between the Indonesian part of West Timor and Timor-Leste, though there is no evidence of any smuggling of migrants at this point. Some sources warn that Timor-Leste may be vulnerable to becoming a staging point for migrant smuggling en route to Australia as other Southeast Asian nations, Indonesia in particular, step up their immigration and border controls and their efforts to combat the smuggling of migrants.

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Part A – Timor-Leste as a country of origin

A.1 Pull factors from Timor-Leste to specific destinations

[1] The administrative district of Oecusse in Timor-Leste is an enclave that shares no contiguous land border with the rest of the country. Oecusse is surrounded by the Indonesian territory of West Timor that is part of East Nusa Tenggara province (Nusa Tenggara Timur). Strong ties between families living in the enclave of Oecusse and their family members in the Indonesian part of West Timor have been identified as a strong pull factor for migrants from Oecusse. Consequently, irregular migration in both directions across the borders of Oecusse has become a common feature.[1]

Part B – Timor-Leste as a transit or destination country

B.1 Pull factors for migrant smuggling/ irregular migration into Timor-Leste

[2] The increasing disparity between economic prospects in West Timor and Timor-Leste acts as a pull factor for migration from West Timor across the border into Timor-Leste. Much of that migration appears to occur in irregular ways, with Indonesians living in West Timor crossing the border to Timor-Leste.[2]

[3] Contributing to the economic pull factors are close family ties that exist between parts of West Timor and the administrative district of Oecusse in Timor-Leste, which is isolated from other parts of the country. As mentioned previously, the irregular migration from West Timor to Oecusse occurs in both directions.[3]

B.2 Smuggling methods and routes into/ through Timor-Leste

[4] Evidence of any migrant smuggling activities into or through Timor-Leste is, at this point, missing. Some sources, however, warn that the country may be vulnerable to becoming a staging point for the smuggling migrants as other Southeast Asian nations, neighbouring Indonesia in particular, step up their measures to combat the smuggling of migrants and tighten their immigration and border controls. Specifically, Timor-Leste has been flagged as a possible embarkation point for the smuggling of migrants from the Southwest Asia and South Asia to Australia, which is only a comparatively short distance away from Timor-Leste.[4]

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[1] Philip E Steinberg et al, The Political Economy of Divided Islands (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) 97.

[2] Philip E Steinberg et al, The Political Economy of Divided Islands (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) 95–6.

[3] Philip E Steinberg et al, The Political Economy of Divided Islands (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013) 97.

[4] UNODC, Transnational Organized Crime in East Asia and the Pacific: A Threat Assessment (UNODC, 2013) 44–45.