Sri Lanka: UNODC strengthens efforts against Migrant Smuggling and Human Trafficking with a focus on international cooperation, anti-corruption

Colombo, Sri Lanka/06 July 2023: Human trafficking and smuggling of migrants are global and widespread crimes that use men, women and children for profit. Criminal networks involved in these activities operate across different jurisdictions, taking advantage of gaps and differences in legal frameworks. International cooperation is therefore an imperative to strengthen law enforcement responses. By joining forces, countries can pool resources, share vital intelligence, and coordinate their efforts more effectively.

In this direction, UNODC facilitated a bilateral meeting between immigration authorities from Sri Lanka and Malaysia in Colombo. With participation of 14 senior officials of the two countries, bolstered communication channels, promoted vital information exchange and enhanced cooperation in addressing pressing operational challenges.

The meeting followed an incident in November 2022, where a vessel carrying over 300 Sri Lankan nationals was rescued off the coast of Vietnam. Initial intelligence revealed that some of the Sri Lankan nationals had used forged Malaysian travel documents to transit through Southeast Asian countries before boarding the vessel. In light of this incident, Sri Lanka's Immigration and Emigration Department expressed a strong desire to collaborate with Malaysian counterparts to share updates on smuggling routes and the modi operandi employed by criminal networks.

The bilateral exchange between Sri Lanka and Malaysia proved fruitful as officials delved into existing and emerging migrant smuggling routes and trends. This provided a crucial platform for both delegations to develop a joint approach to information and intelligence exchange, detection, and parallel investigations along the Malaysia-Sri Lanka migration corridor.

In addition, an intensive Roundtable discussion was also held with members of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force and other relevant government officials of Sri Lanka, to examine the findings of a joint study by UNODC and the Bali Process Regional Support Office (RSO) titled 'Corruption as a Facilitator of Smuggling of Migrants and Trafficking in Persons.'

Sri Lankan officials showcased their anti-corruption framework applicable to public officials, sparking a facilitated discussion on research findings and the sharing of good practices in combating corruption related to trafficking in persons and migrant smuggling.

This activity contributed to SDG 5, SDG 16 and SDG 17: https://sdg-tracker.org/