31 men and eight women had their hopes and dreams taken away from them last week— their lifeless bodies found in the back of a lorry in Grays, Essex, frozen. The 25-year-old driver, Maurice Robinson, faces 39 counts of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people, conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering. 

Robinson is part of a "global ring", which deals with the illegal movement of migrants into the UK the court heard yesterday. Others have also been arrested.

It is necessary to distinguish between human smuggling and human trafficking. Human smuggling refers to the transporting of individuals across international borders against a fee. The smuggled person is free on arrival. Human trafficking, on the other hand, refers to the moving of a person for exploitation purposes: jobs. There is no need for crossing international borders; it can happen within one's own country. 

Most newspapers are focusing strictly on the investigation and trial of Robinson with commentators asking how migrants can come up with the money necessary to make such a precarious journey. The human interest falls to the bottom of the article. 

Identification of the victims is understood to be difficult. Migrants can be forced to give up their documents by their traffickers. On other occasions, migrants bin their papers, so they cannot be identified and tracked by volition. Also, those who may have information pertinent to the case are afraid to come forward because of their migration status. 

They are, however, 39 people with a story, a story which they were not allowed to live and share. They left their family behind and all that they knew. They left Home. Each and every one of them deserves and needs to be remembered. 

Anthropologically, anyone who looks or behaves differently to what we are accustomed to we perceive as a threat. This runs akin to the notion of unconscious or implicit bias. Diverging views on what is implicit bias and what can we do to repudiate its irrationality make things difficult, however. Nevertheless, we must all recognise that the manner we behave towards others is a result of innate fear and that our take on immigration is more often than not, irrational.

We can transpose all the above to the recent events at the open centre in Hal Far. 107 migrants were arrested. Acts of violence cannot be condoned, but how many of us are trying to understand why there was a revolt in the first place? Are migrants being treated humanely, or are they 'kept' in squalid conditions? Are those working within the centre trained to work with migrants? Do they have the necessary compassionate skills required for the post? 

The contents of the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) ensure that everyone leads a good quality life. The right to life, freedom for torture and slavery and the respect for private and family life are at the core of the well-functioning society. Creating barriers for anyone to enjoy these rights naturally implies that we think of ourselves of supreme beings.  

What struck me, as well, was the charge of money laundering. Whenever we read a story about the infringement of human rights, there is somewhere, along the chain of events someone benefitting financially and laundering the income they are making. We have a pattern. The measures which an individual country can take can only do so much. International collaboration is necessary if we want to eliminate the criminal underworld. 

Controlling migration is not about border control per se but the understanding and protection of human rights in one's country. We need to dig deep into national and international legislation and promote human rights. This would only be possible if we have harmonised anti-money laundering regulations across the globe. Otherwise, we will only see the small fry in courts.