Pills, Pangolins And Purses
Despite the best efforts of law enforcement agencies and border management
officials, organised crime is as rampant as ever in Southeast Asia.
Apart from the thriving drug trade – the methamphetamine market alone is
now estimated to be worth up to US$61 billion annually – human trafficking,
migrant smuggling and the illegal wildlife trade are among the other pressing
challenges which continue to plague the region according to a United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report released yesterday.
Timber trafficking, the production of counterfeit goods and falsified medicines
were identified as criminal syndicates’ other high profit endeavours in the
report titled ‘Transnational Organized Crime in Southeast Asia: Evolution,
Growth and Impact’. The 179-page report is the most comprehensive study of
organised crime in Southeast Asia by the United Nations (UN) in over five
years.
Corrupt officials, weak governance and poor border controls help facilitate
organised crime in Southeast Asia, and initiatives to boost connectivity have
allowed transnational organised crime groups to expand their illicit enterprises
alongside growing legitimate commercial flows.
“Like any business, transnational criminal enterprises seek out conditions that
are good for the bottom line, and in Southeast Asia conditions have been
favourable,” noted Jeremy Douglas, UNODC Regional Representative.
“The fact is that while law enforcement and border management in the region
are robust in some jurisdictions, they are effectively not functioning in others,
and limited cross-border cooperation and corruption are serious problems –
key enabling factors for transnational organised crime are unfortunately in-
place,” he added.
While the UNODC noted that methamphetamine production and trafficking
have reached “unprecedented and dangerous levels” in the past few years,
the massive profits – estimated to be between US$30.3 billion and US$61.4
billion last year, up from US$15 billion in 2013 – should come as no surprise.
Source: UNODC
The methamphetamine trade was recently estimated to be worth over US$40
billion a year in the Mekong sub-region alone – an area comprising Cambodia,
south-west China, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam. The region’s
most-profitable illicit business, one-third of the methamphetamine trade is
attributed to more affluent markets such as Australia, Japan, New Zealand
and South Korea.
Organised crime’s many faces
Spurred by uneven economic development and demand for cheap low-skill
labour, Southeast Asia has become a global hub for human trafficking both as
a source and destination region.
As the report observes, the majority of flows within Southeast Asia involve
victims being trafficked from less developed countries in Southeast Asia such
as Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and Vietnam to more developed countries
including Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore – as well as to destinations
outside the region, particularly China, Japan, South Korea, Europe, North
America, the Middle East and Australia.
Human trafficking for sexual exploitation accounted for roughly 79 percent of
the total number of cases in Thailand from 2014 to 2017, and of the total
number of victims trafficked for sexual exploitation, almost 70 percent were
underage girls.
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Already plagued by a record number of seizures, Southeast Asia’s illegal
wildlife trafficking may increase in value due to declining wild populations,
growing demand, stricter national legislation and enforcement and the rise of
online commerce and social media as platforms for trade.
As some of ASEAN’s increasing industrial capacity is re-routed to producing
unauthorised overruns and cheaper imitations of brand-name products, the
UNODC expects the region to remain a major hub in the supply chains for the
global counterfeit goods market – which it estimates to be valued at between
US$33.8 billion to US$35.9 billion annually.
A common theme underlying all these crimes is money laundering, and the
region’s rapidly expanding network of casinos – many of which are lightly or
not at all regulated – has become the perfect partner for organised crime
groups that need to launder illicit money. As of January, there were 230
licensed casinos in Southeast Asia – many of which emerged after a
crackdown on money laundering activities in Macau in 2014.
Attempts to address transnational organised crime have clearly been
unsuccessful, and the UNODC has called for the establishment of an overall
policy to review and develop connected strategies at individual national levels
to ensure more effective mechanisms for cooperation.
With the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting on Transnational Crime kicking off in
Nay Pyi Taw on Monday, regional observers will be looking to the Myanmar
capital to see what comes of discussions between the UNODC, governments
and international partners on the findings and responses of the damning
report.
But while regional connectivity and poor governance has no doubt made it
easier for organised crime networks to supply their clients with pills, pangolins
and purses, like any other business, they would be bankrupt if not for the
continued demand for their products and services.
Related articles:
ASEAN economic integration
Myanmar: Meth capital of the world
Money laundering and the illegal wildlife trade
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