Bangkok (Thailand), 30 November 2023 - Under the surface, smugglers and human traffickers rely on corrupt officials to succeed. The key role that corruption plays in facilitating these transnational organized crimes was the topic of discussion between more than a hundred experts from across Asia and the Pacific who gathered in Bangkok last week to address the issue and find solutions to it.
Hosted from 21 to 22 November by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the Regional Support Office (RSO) of the Bali Process, and the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission of Thailand, the conference attracted experts from anti-trafficking and anti-corruption departments, civil society organizations, the media, academia, and the private sector.
“The smuggling of migrants and trafficking of persons would not happen on the scale that they do without the help of corruption,” said Rebecca Miller, Regional Coordinator for countering human trafficking and migrant smuggling at UNODC’s Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific. “These crimes are successful because of the complicity of public officials and border officials receiving bribes, gifts, or non-material benefits such as political favours.”
Corruption facilitates trafficking in persons and is also one of the key drivers in migrant smuggling, she added. A 2021 research report by UNODC and the RSO of the Bali Process reveals that corruption —in all its forms— can happen at every stage of the trafficking and smuggling process, and involves actors from both the public and private sectors. In exchange for material benefits or political favours, officials can turn a blind eye to illicit activities, enabling the entry and transportation of migrants, for example, or the production of fraudulent documents.
Through case studies, conference participants showed how corruption can also influence prosecution and judicial processes. In some cases, they argued, law enforcement officials can receive bribes to provide information on police raids, to drop an investigation, or to even help ensure that victims of trafficking cannot escape places of exploitation.
Emphasis was given to the victims: “We have to make sure that we treat victims of these crimes as victims, and not as objects. They are also part of the solution and should therefore be part of the conversation,” said Joy Aceron, representative of G-Watch, a civil society research organization that fights corruption in the Philippines. “When you focus on the victim, you are winning over the local community and putting citizens at the centre, which in turn helps in the anti-corruption effort.”
Corruption, participants noted, provides impunity for traffickers and smugglers, creates mistrust of public authorities, undermines the rule of law, and leads to the violation of human rights for victims of trafficking and vulnerable migrants. Civil society representatives recommended tackling corruption at all its levels through economic, judicial, and political reforms.
Edmud Terence Gomez, former professor at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, called for corruption to be addressed at the higher levels: “Corruption is embedded in the public sector through state-owned enterprises with an interest in economic sectors that use foreign labour. These enterprises, along with private sector firms that exploit cheap labour, have to be held accountable.”
In special group sessions, experts recognized that corruption cannot be left in the shadows. A key takeaway was that it needed to be exposed in its entirety in the context of human trafficking and migrant smuggling. Focusing on solutions, the cross-sectoral teams established that corruption is a complex crime, and that it will take a collective regional effort to address it.
“We need to share information between countries, because this is a transborder crime,” said Mohamed Reemos Khan, Senior Assistant Commissioner at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission. “Sharing information can save people’s lives.”
Further Information:
Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are global and widespread crimes that use men, women and children for profit. The organized networks or individuals behind these lucrative crimes take advantage of people who are vulnerable, desperate or simply seeking a better life. UNODC strives for the eradication of these crimes through the dismantling of the criminal enterprises that trade in people and the conviction of the main perpetrators. UNODC works with authorities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific to address corruption, recognizing its strong link with migrant smuggling and human trafficking.
United Nations Convention against Corruption
UNODC's Action against Corruption and Economic Crime
Corruption as a Facilitator of Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons in the Bali Process Region with a focus on Southeast Asia
Human Trafficking and Migrant Smuggling
