UN special rapporteurs voiced concern on Wednesday over the scale of trafficking and human rights abuses related to “scam compounds” in Southeast Asia. They called for urgent international action to “protect victims and step up prevention efforts.” The joint statement stressed the severity of the current situation, stating that it “has reached the level of a humanitarian and human rights crisis, and it is both undignified and intolerable.”
Hundreds of thousands of people have been trafficked into compounds located in Cambodia, Myanmar, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Philippines and Malaysia, where they are forced to engage in “online fraud” (often related to banking and money laundering). The trafficking victims are “fraudulently recruited” from all over the world. Victims have reported human rights violations like “torture, ill treatment, severe violence, and abuse including beatings, electrocution, solitary confinement, and sexual violence.” If they attempt to escape, they face the possibility of “severe punishment or death.”
Scam compounds are difficult to shut down as they often relocate when targeted by law enforcement. The criminal groups running them, moreover, collude with “government officials, politicians, local law enforcement, and influential business figures.” The experts criticized current “assistance and protection measures” as “inadequate,” emphasizing the need for states to abide by the principles of non-punishment and non-refoulement. They also highlighted how restrictions on freedom of expression in the region make it more difficult for victims to seek justice and expose abuse.
Non-refoulement is enshrined in Article 33 of the 1951 Refugee Convention. It prohibits states from expelling or returning refugees to territories where they would be in danger. Under this principle, trafficked individuals could obtain “long-term unconditional residence permits” if unable to return to their country of origin. The non-punishment principle falls under principle 7 of OHCHR’s Recommended Principles on Human Rights and Human Trafficking. It is intended to prevent individuals from being “detained, charged, or prosecuted” for illegal activities committed as a result of trafficking. The experts welcomed efforts by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to develop guidance on this principle.
The problem of scam compounds has been escalating since 2021, when the pandemic enabled criminals to take advantage of out-of-work migrants stranded in the region and the greater number of people online. Many of those who have been released from the compounds are stuck along the Thai-Myanmar border, a situation which has been made more difficult as a result of the recent earthquake in Myanmar and Thailand.
