African experts have flagged what they called a worsening trafficking in persons racket for purposes of forced labour and criminality across several countries in Southeast Asia.
Maemo Peter Machethe, Director of the African Union Continental Operational Centre for Combating Irregular Migration, said human trafficking for forced criminality has become a global human rights crisis with more African migrants falling prey to transnational organised criminal syndicates.
“The situation requires our continental and global response. Trafficking in persons for forced criminality is not just exploitation but a serious violation of human rights, which sometimes ends in the death of victims who are kept and isolated in inhumane scam compounds,” Machethe told APA in an interview.
Noting that the situation requires collective efforts, Machethe said the growing sophistication of trafficking in persons remains a worrying issue for criminal justice systems and law enforcement agencies in the continent and beyond.
Churchil E. Monono, chair of the permanent representative subcommittee for migration, refugees and internally displaced persons at the African Union, said such trafficking for forced criminality, including online fraud, is increasingly attracting more Africans who are lured by false promises of legitimate employment abroad.
“It is sad to note that while the majority of the African citizens in their quest to seek better livelihood opportunities end up being transported to unknown destinations and held under threat or violence, forced to participate in online scams, illegal financial schemes, and other forms of organised crimes,” Monono told APA.
He emphasised the need to address the scourge with urgency before the issue gets out of control.
“We need to stop the spread of illegal and criminal networks of these traffickers within our borders through enhanced intelligence sharing, cross border collaboration and further enhanced information sharing among member states,” said Monono, stressing a collaboration framework with counterparts from the East Asia region.
Jason Tower, senior expert at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime, said victims have been deceived and fraudulently recruited from all over the world and they are held in facilities primarily located in Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
“We sometimes refer to them as scam cities, but these are massive webs of structures that are set up specifically for online scamming to take place. So all across Cambodia, Laos, and Myanmar, you have these giant operations that are scamming people all over the globe. Every single day, they steal about 175 million U.S. dollars from people from over 100 countries,” Tower told APA.
MG/as/APA