Geneva - Bangkok: Europe and the Arabs
A new UN report says hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia have been forcibly involved by organized criminal gangs in online crimes ranging from romance scams and cryptocurrency fraud to illegal gambling. According to a UN news release, a copy of which we received this morning. Wednesday
The report - issued by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on Tuesday - cites reliable sources indicating that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online fraud, while it is estimated that about 100,000 others are exposed to Similar situation in Cambodia.
  Other countries in the region, including the Lao People's Democratic Republic, the Philippines and Thailand, have also been identified as major destination or transit countries, with tens of thousands of people trafficked. The report stated that these fraud centers generate revenues amounting to billions of US dollars every year.

serious violations
At a press conference in Geneva yesterday, UNHCR spokesman Jeremy Lawrence said that victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security.
"Many of them have been subjected to torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights violations," he added.
Lawrence said it was difficult to estimate the scale of online fraud in Southeast Asia because of its clandestine nature and gaps in official responses to combat it.
The spokesperson noted that while some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place relevant legal and policy frameworks to combat human trafficking, “in some cases they fall short of international standards, and in many cases their implementation fails to adequately respond to the context and complexity of fraud operations.” over the Internet.”

Two groups of victims
The report showed that most of the people trafficked for online scams are men, although women and teenagers are also among the victims. Also, most of them are not nationals of the countries where the trafficking takes place.

Victims come from all over the ASEAN region, including Indonesia, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Asia and even from as far afield as Africa and Latin America.

The report notes that victims of trafficking and other human rights violations are misidentified as criminals or immigration offenders. Instead of being offered protection, rehabilitation services and redress, they are subject to criminal prosecution or immigration penalties.
In this regard, Mr. Lawrence said: "They are victims. They are not criminals. As we continue to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online crime, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon includes two groups of victims."

Stigma and shame
Speaking via video link from Bangkok, Thailand, Ms. Pia Oberoi, senior advisor on immigration and human rights for the Asia Pacific region, detailed some of the scams to journalists.
Oberoi, who authored the report, described one scam known as the "pig-slaughter scheme" in which targets of the scam are approached on the basis of a romantic relationship, and are then tricked out of money.
"Last year we learned of the tragic death of a person from Malaysia who traveled to Thailand and was smuggled to Myanmar, where he was believed to be responding to someone's attempts [to engage in an affair]," she added.
The senior advisor said many people did not report being defrauded because of the stigma attached, and would rather "not be exposed to that shame".
She said: “In the same vein, the people who have been trafficked (and sent) to these fraud complexes not only suffer from physical and mental abuse, but also financial ruin in many cases, because they are forced to borrow, and then take out more debt to release "They themselves are part of this scam pool. But they are also stigmatized and shamed."

overall response
In a statement, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, called on all affected states to mobilize the political will to promote human rights and improve governance and the rule of law, “including through serious and sustained efforts to tackle corruption.” "This has to be as much a part of the response to these frauds as the robust criminal justice response," he added.
Only such a comprehensive approach can break the cycle of impunity and ensure protection and justice for people who have been subjected to horrific abuses, Mr. Türk said.