Bangkok (Thailand), 19 December 2024 – A group of more than 50 officials from all Member States of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – plus Timor-Leste in its observer capacity – convened in Bangkok last week to explore opportunities to strengthen cooperation against transnational trafficking in persons.
The 2024 UNODC Trafficking in Persons Report was launched in Vienna on 11 December 2024. On the same day in Bangkok, the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime (SOMTC) took place with the support of Australian Government funded ASEAN-ACT and UNODC.
The UNODC Global Report shows that trafficking in persons is an increasingly transnational crime, with organized crime groups trafficking people across borders and over significant distances. Nowhere is this more evident than in the ASEAN region which is facing unprecedented challenges posed by transnational organized crime groups trafficking people for purposes of sexual exploitation, forced labour and increasingly forced criminality. The Global Report dedicates a section on trafficking for forced criminality to commit online scams in Southeast Asia, bringing attention to the fact that people from across the globe are being victimized by organized criminal groups operating in this region.
The high level of organization among and between these transnational crime groups operating in the region compounds the challenges faced by State officials responsible for disrupting and dismantling them. Investigations and prosecutions to date have mainly targeted low level actors and are rarely pursued across borders, leaving some of the most serious criminals able to evade justice. The challenges associated with following complex chains of criminality means that organized crime groups are rarely disrupted. A lack of cooperation can have detrimental impacts on victims, who may be recognized and protected as victims in one country but treated as offenders in another. While there are several regional and bilateral laws and agreements in place to harmonize understanding and action, challenges in cooperation and coordination remain.
The primary objective of the ASEAN Workshop on International Legal Cooperation on Trafficking in Persons Cases, held between 11 to 13 December 2024, was to validate a zero draft compendium that ASEAN-ACT and UNODC ROSEAP have created specifically for the ASEAN region. The compendium is a collection of practical tools developed on the basis of consultations with more than 200 practitioners across the ASEAN region, making it a tool led by practitioners for the benefit of practitioners. ASEAN SOMTC is now stepping up to take ownership of this resource towards its finalization, dissemination and, critically, its implementation in service of its agenda to strengthen regional and international cooperation to prevent and combat trafficking in persons.
Participants offered valuable suggestions on how the compendium can be further strengthened. ASEAN-ACT and UNODC ROSEAP were grateful for the rich insights provided on the compendium and are committed to further refining it in line with suggestions received, while also reiterating to participants that its value will ultimately depend on whether practitioners calibrate it to their country contexts, and use it in practice.
The second objective of the ASEAN workshop was to provide a platform for practitioners to discuss real trafficking in persons cases. This opportunity was offered in direct response to the request made at an earlier Regional Forum hosted by ASEAN-ACT and UNODC ROSEAP in March 2024, at which practitioners requested that they be given an opportunity to explore real cases involving cooperation between ASEAN Member States. While several cases were submitted, some did not offer insights into transnational cooperation, highlighting again the importance of the Compendium.
Discussions at the workshop underscored that whether international cooperation happens or not depends on whether individuals proactively take initiative and action. Across the two and a half days, participants highlighted a raft of legal, political institutional and practical barriers that stand in their way, that speak to the fact that international cooperation is yet to be institutionalized and normalized.
“Opportunities are being missed to cooperate against human trafficking in practice,” observed Dr Marika McAdam, International Law and Policy Adviser at ASEAN-ACT. “States are often working independently rather than reaching across borders.”
Dr Rebecca Miller, UNODC’s Regional Coordinator on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, agreed: “Criminal justice responses to human trafficking remain largely confined to domestic systems,” she said. “Addressing this issue in one or a few countries’ domestic contexts, while necessary and welcome, will not have a significant impact on the transnational organized crime groups operating in the region.”
At the close of the workshop, several delegates reiterated their strong commitment to international cooperation against human trafficking and expressed their appreciation at having had this opportunity to connect and liaise with each other. What practitioners now do with these connections to meaningfully confront actual trafficking cases affecting the ASEAN region and beyond, is the true test of whether convening workshops such as this one is a worthwhile investment going forward. “It is easy to express strong commitment to cooperate,” said one of the conference organizers following the event, “but actually picking up the phone to call a counterpart is what needs to happen.”
The next ASEAN Workshop will be convened in May of 2025. There, discussions will aim to progress beyond finalizing the ILC Compendium, to also explore how ASEAN SOMTC and ASEAN Member States can meaningfully disseminate, socialize and implement it. Delegations from ASEAN Member States who attend that workshop are expected to bring examples with them of tangible efforts made between now and then to reach out across borders to advance urgent investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking cases.
