FROM BONDAGE TO FREEDOM E. 84 Overview of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol The stated purpose of the Migrant Smuggling Protocol is to prevent and combat migrant smuggling to promote international cooperation among States Parties and at the same time protect the rights of smuggled migrants210. Similar to the Convention and the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, many provisions are intended to ensure that the approaches taken by the States under their domestic legislative and law enforcement regimes are as coordinated as possible to make collective international action efficient. F. Key Provisions and Analysis As in the case with the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, the Convention provisions apply mutatis mutandis to this Protocol. Application of the protocol is only limited to situations of international migrant smuggling involving an organized criminal group.211 “Smuggling of Migrants” is defined as “the procurement, in order to obtain, directly or indirectly, a financial or other material benefit, of the illegal entry of a person into a State Party of which the person is not a national or a permanent resident”212. The reference to “financial or other material benefit” was included as an element of the definition in order to ensure that the activities of those who provide support to migrants on humanitarian grounds or on the basis of close family ties do not come within the scope of the Protocol213. States Parties are required to criminalize the smuggling of migrants as well as related offenses including the production, provision, and possession of fraudulent travel or identity documents214. The Protocol includes a detailed section on preventing and suppressing the smuggling of migrants by sea because of the seriousness and volume of the problem. Under one of such provisions, States are requested to cooperate to prevent smuggling of migrants by sea and to take necessary measures when they suspect that a vessel is engaging in the smuggling of migrants. States 210 Supra note, 5 Art 2. 211 Ibid., Art. 4. 212 Ibid., Art 3(a). 213 Supra note 36,p.88. 214 Supra note 5, Art. 6. 215 Ibid., Art.( 7-9). 216 Ibid., Art. 9(1) (a).