View previous stories
	Hundreds of thousands trafficked to work as online scammers in South East Asia by OHCHR, news agencies   Aug. 2023   Hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly engaged by organised criminal gangs into online criminality in Southeast Asia - from romance-investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling - a report issued today by the UN Human Rights Office shows.   Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses, the report says.   “People who are coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to carry out crimes. They are victims. They are not criminals,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.   “In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims.”   The enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate, the reports says, because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response. Credible sources indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000.   Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved.   The scam centres generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.   The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response measures had a drastic impact on illicit activities across the region. Public health measures closed casinos in many countries and in response, casino operators moved operations to less regulated spaces including conflict-affected border areas and Special Economic Zones, as well as to the increasingly lucrative online space, the report says.   Faced with new operational realities, criminal actors increasingly targeted migrants in vulnerable situations – who were stranded in these countries and out of work due to border and business closures – for recruitment into criminal operations, under the pretence of offering them real jobs.   As COVID-related shutdowns saw millions of people restricted to their homes, spending more time online, there were more ready targets for online fraud schemes and more people susceptible to fraudulent recruitment.   Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims, the report says. Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs. Many of the victims are well-educated, sometimes coming from professional jobs or with graduate or even post-graduate degrees, computer-literate and multi-lingual.   Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), as well as mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.   While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases they fall short of international standards. In many cases their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams, the report says.   Victims of trafficking and other human rights abuse are erroneously identified as criminals or as immigration offenders and, rather than being protected and given access to the rehabilitation and remedy they need, they are subjected to criminal prosecution or immigration penalties, it says.   “All affected States need to summon the political will to strengthen human rights and improve governance and the rule of law, including through serious and sustained efforts to tackle corruption. This must be as much a part of the response to these scams as a robust criminal justice response,” said Türk.   “Only such a holistic approach can break the cycle of impunity and ensure protection and justice for the people who have been so horrifically abused.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/hundreds-thousands-trafficked-work-online-scammers-se-asia-says-un-report http://bangkok.ohchr.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/ONLINE-SCAM-OPERATIONS-2582023.pdf http://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/25/beatings-torture-and-electric-shocks-freed-scam-compound-workers-allege-horrific-abuse http://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/10/sold-to-gangs-forced-to-run-online-scams-inside-cambodias-cybercrime-crisis http://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2022-11-01/i-was-a-slave-up-to-100-000-held-captive-by-chinese-cyber-criminals-in-cambodia Visit the related web page
	Amnesty calls on States to uphold human rights principles in new treaty on universal jurisdiction by Agnes Callamard, Fisseha Tekle Amnesty International   May 26, 2023   States agree to landmark treaty to help deliver justice to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. (Amnesty International)   Reacting to the agreement on a treaty on international legal cooperation in cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes following negotiations between states in Slovenia, Law and Policy Advisor at Amnesty International Fisseha Tekle, said:   “The adoption of this new convention on international cooperation is a historic step towards delivering justice to victims of crimes under international law. In a world with ever more visible atrocities, and where huge numbers of victims are often left without any remedy, the convention opens more routes to justice.   “Rules on the recognition, role and rights of victims were expanded; there is an increased emphasis on the duty to provide fair treatment to the accused throughout; statutes of limitations for these crimes have largely been outlawed; and language on gender was improved. Importantly, the principal duty of states to prosecute or extradite suspects of crimes under international law was enshrined and expanded to cover certain crimes in non-international armed conflicts.   “However, it is of great concern that last-minute efforts by a few states succeeded in carving out an exemption and securing discretion on whether to investigate and prosecute suspected perpetrators present on their territory, when this should be a universal duty. But the determination of most states involved in the negotiations to minimize ‘safe havens’ for those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and to fulfil the victims’ right to remedy, ensured that this exemption was limited.   “The core principles of the treaty were preserved, and it should reduce the impunity of perpetrators. Overall, a historic opportunity to strengthen international legal cooperation has been seized, and we now urge states to promptly sign the treaty and ratify it without reservations.”   12 May 2023   States must adopt a landmark treaty to strengthen international legal cooperation in the investigation of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to improve victims’ access to justice and reparations, Amnesty International said before the start of a high-level conference on an accord.   Negotiations on the proposed convention, which sets out international obligations of states, including on mutual legal assistance and extradition in the investigation and prosecution of crimes under international law, are due to begin in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 15th May.   Fisseha Tekle, Legal Advisor on International Justice at Amnesty International, said: “Investigating genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes under international law often involves victims, evidence and perpetrators in different countries, so there is an urgent need to ensure that states can work effectively with each other to deliver justice.   “While international treaties exist for countries to collaborate legally on issues such as corruption or organized crime, the absence of a global convention on cooperation concerning suspected genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes has been a glaring omission from the landscape of international law and justice. This convention would be an effective tool in the fight against impunity for crimes under international law.   “Pursuing international justice cannot be the sole responsibility of the International Criminal Court or other international bodies. While these mechanisms are often crucial, comprehensive justice and reparations for victims requires states to investigate crimes under international law using their own national legal systems, in cooperation with other countries.”   Many states, particularly in Europe, have opened national investigations into war crimes and crimes against humanity following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This convention would provide a significant improvement to the international legal framework for states conducting such investigations and prosecutions of crimes under international law, wherever they are committed.   “Amnesty International calls on negotiators to adopt a treaty which incorporates the highest international law and human rights standards. This would include the broadest possible definitions of these crimes as well as who is recognized as a victim, and enhance their rights and access to justice, truth and reparations,” Fisseha Tekle said.   Seventy-seven states are co-sponsoring the current draft of the Convention on International Cooperation in the Investigation and Prosecution of Genocide, Crimes against Humanity, War Crimes and other International Crimes. If adopted, the treaty would oblige states that have joined the convention to either prosecute suspected perpetrators of these crimes in their own domestic courts, or hand them over to another state or to an international criminal tribunal for trial there.   “Amnesty International urges all states present in Ljubljana to negotiate and adopt a convention that can be regarded as a genuine and historic legal landmark which will benefit not only investigators and prosecutors but ultimately deliver justice to the victims and survivors,” Fisseha Tekle said.   http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/02/global-amnesty-international-calls-for-adoption-of-new-treaty-on-cooperation-in-prosecuting-crimes-under-international-law http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/05/global-states-agree-landmark-treaty-to-help-deliver-justice-to-victims-of-genocide-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes/ http://www.icj.org/adoption-of-milestone-treaty-on-international-cooperation-set-to-advance-the-fight-against-impunity/ http://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/05/global-states-can-help-deliver-justice-for-victims-of-genocide-crimes-against-humanity-and-war-crimes-by-backing-new-treaty/ http://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-explainer-what-does-international-law-say-about-universal-jurisdiction-war-crimes http://www.fidh.org/en/issues/international-justice/universal-jurisdiction/new-edition-of-the-universal-jurisdiction-annual-review-highlighting Visit the related web page
	View more stories