The ASEAN region is facing a human trafficking crisis of unparalleled scale and severity. Organised crime groups are drawing victims from within the region and from far beyond, into hotspots of criminality. This global crisis requires that ASEAN countries instigate and lead on cooperation with origin and transit countries across the globe.
Countries in the ASEAN region have demonstrated their capacity to cooperate. Police have travelled across borders to rescue their citizens from forced labour and forced criminality in casinos and scamming centres, and from forced marriages and other situations. Some operations involve not only police in destination and origin countries, but also embassies and civil society organisations, to ensure that victims are effectively assisted and protected.
However, there are also reports of actions not being taken to rescue victims. In some cases, police may not exercise their jurisdiction without a formal letter requesting them to, meaning informal cooperation is hampered by formal procedures. In the specific case of transnational trafficking into scamming centres, even where police cooperate to remove victims from trafficking situations, they may not work together to proactively build cases against traffickers. As a result, organized crime groups evade justice, while low-level actors are pursued in their stead. There are also concerns that online scammers are prosecuted for their involvement in scamming rather than being identified as victims of trafficking, contrary to the non-punishment principle in the ASEAN Convention Against Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.
Against this background, ASEAN-ACT and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Regional Office for Southeast Asia & the Pacific (UNODC ROSEAP) are implementing a multi-year project, launched in April 2022, to strengthen international legal cooperation on transnational trafficking in persons cases. Across 2023, 61 consultation meetings were carried out with 241 practitioners from central and executing authorities, criminal justice practitioners and other experts.
A Regional Forum to Address International Cooperation Challenges in Responding to Trafficking in Persons was convened by ASEAN-ACT and UNODC in Bangkok (4-5 March 2024). The forum brought together law enforcers, prosecutors and central authority officials from nine ASEAN Member States. Across a series of expert panels, participants from Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam unpacked challenges of transnational cooperation against transnational trafficking in persons and explored opportunities to address them.
In relation to legal challenges, it was found that while international, regional, and domestic frameworks for cooperation are in place, their implementation can be fraught. Different legal systems and approaches may be difficult to reconcile and divergent understandings of ‘trafficking in persons,’ can detract from harmonised response. For instance, a person forced into criminal cyber-scamming may be considered a victim of trafficking in one country, but the subject of an immigration or labour dispute in another. This was validated during the regional forum where many of the country representatives identified the differences in legal systems and approaches as a top challenge, including the different understanding of what trafficking in persons is, resulting to difficulty in identifying a victim of trafficking.
In relation to institutional challenges, practitioners noted the insufficient number and frequent rotation of staff as paramount issues of concern. Beyond merely being stretched, staff may also be strained: several experts highlighted the personal challenges that come of working on violent trafficking in persons cases, that can expose practitioners to risks of secondary trauma. Budget constraints was also raised as a challenge to prompt and effective responses.
Among the several practical challenges raised, were insufficient human, financial, and technological resources. Criminal justice resourcing is not keeping pace with the increasing sophistication and diversification of transnational crime in the region. Language barriers too were noted to impede efforts of counterparts to liaise with each other.
But participants agreed that unless these and other challenges are overcome, organised crime groups will continue to operate with impunity. While these challenges are complex, practitioners identified tangible opportunities to address them. As Dr Rebecca Miller, Regional Coordinator, Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling, UNODC noted: “Just because the challenges are complex, doesn’t mean the solutions need to be.”
In closing the forum, Atty Darlene Pajarito, ASEAN-ACT Justice Systems Director, pointed to the value of the discussion in highlighting the realities on the ground impacting international legal cooperation.
Practitioners stressed that capacity must be built where it is needed, and tools and resources be given to the right people in the right places. This means diffusing capacity from senior to junior staff, and from central to local staff to allow for succession and decentralisation. Networks within and between countries also need to be strengthened so that practitioners know who to approach when an opportunity for cooperation presents.
“This regional forum serves as an excellent networking platform for professionals from various fields of expertise to identify key challenges, share best practices and formulate innovative solutions in enhancing international legal cooperations of TIP cases,” explained Deputy Senior Counsel Attorney General’s Chambers of Brunei Rozaimah Rahman.
The inputs offered by participating countries at the Regional Forum will inform the finalisation of the Compendium on International Legal Cooperation (ILC) on trafficking in persons, and will shape the next steps to be taken in the project more broadly.