Kai Smits
Description
Research data for researcher Kai Smits including datasets, metadata records, code, protocols, and persistent identifiers. Metadata follows FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable): standardized schemas, machine-readable formats (RDF), access conditions, licensing, and provenance. Covers topics: human trafficking, ransom, Libya, Central Mediterranean Route, Europe, transnational repression, human rights violations; institutions: affiliation Tilburg University; contact point: HDS@eepa.be
Source
- FDP
- EEPA FAIR Data Point
- Catalog
- Human Trafficking Researchers (HTR)
- Application
- view all in this application
- Dataset URI
- https://fairdp.eepa.be/dataset/4ecce654-abc6-4348-bf1f-2ccde35034af
Also in this application
This application has data on other FDPs too. Add them all to your selection in one click, or pick individually:
Contact Information
- HDS@eepa.be
Keywords
Distributions (6)
SPARQL Endpoints
Data from 126 in-depth coded and labelled interviews with refugees and migrants with refugees from the Greater Horn of Africa (the large majority from Eritrea) and West Africa. The interviewers were Morgane Wirtz, Kai Smits and Adoum Moussa. The interviews were conducted in Niger, Tunisia, Belgium, Italy, The Netherlands, and several other locations between March 2019 and November 2019. The in-depth semi-structured interviews asked the interviewees about their journey from their country of origin until now, with the main focus on human trafficking for ransom and human rights abuses along the route. The interviews were transcribed and then coded and labelled. 50 labels were designed to analyse the interviews, such as key dates of their journey, reason for leaving the country of origin, the subsequent place of residence (e.g., a refugee camp), border(s) crossed, payments made, name of locations, descriptions of locations, human rights abuses mentioned, sexual violence witnessed, smugglers/traffickers/chiefs of places mentioned, nationality of human traffickers, people working with human traffickers, interactions with humanitarian organisations, interactions with visitors, access to information, information produced, feelings mentioned, and so forth.
- Endpoint URL
- https://ag1s5fv23e82hv78.allegrograph.cloud/repositories/KS01/sparql
- Contact
- HDS@eepa.be
Data Files & Downloads
This data is the result of the coding and labelling process of 43 interviews collected in Tigray, Ethiopia. The interviews were conducted by a research team led by Daniel Tesfa. These interviews were held between October 2024 and March 2025. The total number of interviews analysed was 43. The interviews were conducted with people in Tigray, including Tigrayan inhabitants of various towns who witnessed trafficking (n=16), legal professionals - lawyers, judges, and police (n=21) and Eritrean refugees (n=6). The interviews were held in various places around Tigray, including Egela, Adigrat, Mekelle, Fatsi, Gerhu Sirnay, Rama, En-ticho, Adwa, Shire, Hitsats and Shimelba. The interviews were analysed by Kai Smits through an open coding process focused on the information on the organisation of the human trafficking for ransom in Tigray. Furthermore, Kai Smits also spoke to the researcher extensively about the material and their thoughts about it. Kai Smits analysed the interviews separately, but in parallel with Daniel Tesfa and KristÃna Melicherová, and we discussed and triangulated the outcomes of our analyses. Daniel Tesfa collaborated with research assistants from Tigray, Ethiopia.
- Contact
- HDS@eepa.be
This data is data from 42 in-depth interviews with Eritrean and Tigray-Ethiopian refugees who fled to Sudan and with some other resource persons. The interviews were collected in several locations; Hamdayete, Wedsherifay, Um Racuba, Khartoum and Gedaref. The interviewers were Morgane Wirtz and Kai Smits. The date of collection was June 2021. The interviews were transcribed and then coded and labelled over the first half of 2023. This was an open coding process. The data was separated between the Eritrean and Tigrayan refugees.
This data is the result of a process of going through 238 re-used interviews that were done in the context of Sinai trafficking between 2012 and 2014. The re-used data on Sinai trafficking was analysed between October and December 2024. This was done by going through all the interviews and creating an open coding process. The open coding was particularly focused on topics in relation to the organisation of the human trafficking network.
32 notebooks with observations and notes from interviews from between 2017 â 2025 were systematically analysed and resulted in coded and labelled data. The booklets were first marked for relevant passages and globally labelled. Then, the relevant sections were transcribed, coded and labelled. The coding and labelling was an open process, in that there were no pre-defined labels, but where themes were labelled as they came up, and the subsequent and previous notes were then also labelled through these themes. 77 respondents were identified from the notebooks. The majority of the respondents were refugees (n=39), followed by experts (n=34) and inhabitants of Tigray who witnessed the unfold-ing of the Tigray war (n=4).
- Contact
- HDS@eepa.be
This is a dataset of 102 messages from informed sources on the Eritrean government's involvement in human trafficking for ransom, on the working of the Eritrean government, and on the Eritrean government's influence outside of Eritrea. The messages were collected between May - August 2025. They were analysed using an open coding-labelling process in Excel.
- Contact
- hds@eepa.be