AML CHALLENGES
Human trafficking
plays a role as one
of the leading causes
of money laundering
in the world
Destination? Anywhere…
Australia, Cambodia, China, East Timor,
Japan, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Mongolia, New
Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South
Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam
are countries where sexual and economic
exploitation of trafficking victims takes
place. Almost all source countries function
as a destination as well. The only source
country that does not also serve as a destination is Burma — a country that suffers
from severe poverty and harsh dictatorship. Moreover, a destination for traffickers
originating from East Asian countries is
basically anywhere from China to Russia
to Europe to the U.S. Wherever there is an
economic demand for humans to join the
commercial labor and sex markets, the
traffickers are there.
What are the common grounds that
characterize destination countries in
East Asia? One would assume that these
are the economically viable states, such
as Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New
Zealand, South Korea or Taiwan, because
their economic prosperity attracts traffickers looking for bigger revenues. However,
our study found that it is not necessarily
so. According to the 2008 U.S. Department
of State Trafficking in Persons Report,
Hong Kong is primarily a transit territory
and to a lesser extent a destination country for women and men trafficked for the
purpose of sexual exploitation and forced
labor. Similar to Hong Kong, estimates of
international human trafficking in New
Zealand are also modest. On the other
hand, developing countries that encounter
significant poverty issues such as Malaysia,
East Timor, China and Vietnam are salient
destination locations.
Hence, the economic situation of a country, however significant, cannot serve as
the sole indicator of a viable destination
country in East Asia. The type of regime,
whether democratic or central, cannot predict the probability of it serving as a destination place, nor the amount of legislations
a government enacts, nor the severity of the
law. For instance, Malaysia has legislated
over a dozen laws related to the trafficking
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of women and girls, money laundering of
human trafficking proceeds and more,
which did not deter the Department of
State from categorizing it under Tier 3 in
2007 and on the Tier 2 Watch List in 2008.
Another example is Indonesia, imposing
by law a maximum of 12 years imprisonment on traffickers despite being categorized under Tier 3 in 2002 and on the Tier
2 Watch List in 2006.
Who are the traffickers?
Just as there are many factors involved
in determining whether countries comply
with the law, there are also different groups
involved in the “business” of human trafficking — from organized crime groups, via
government corruption, to private individuals. Countries with strong organized crime
syndicates, such as Thailand, Malaysia
or Japan and its Yakuza, would naturally
control human trafficking there. However,
trafficking is not necessarily controlled
by organized syndicates. In Cambodia, a
source and destination country, many different figures are taking part in trafficking.
The traffickers are reportedly organized
crime syndicates, parents, relatives, friends,
intimate partners and neighbors.
Conclusion
As described above, the questions we
raised in the beginning of this article
cannot be addressed by one-sentence
answers. Human trafficking is an acute
problem shared by the countries of East
Asia and the Pacific. However, it is not only
their problem to handle, but the world’s.
International financial institutions that
conduct daily transactions with international figures need to be constantly on
alert and perform up-to-date geo-political
analysis of the region, as each country’s
issues are entangled with its neighbor. As
indicated, East Asian countries play similar roles in the trafficking business; most
serve as both the source and destination
place and many serve as transit locations
as well, since all are neighboring countries
and crossing each other’s borders is simple
and common.
Several important factors, when combined, may drive a country into being
a source or a destination country. More
importantly, several actions are needed to
deter human trafficking: better economic
conditions and opportunities, criminal
laws that specifically address the problem,
effective law enforcement and execution
mechanisms, deterring education, grassroot-level activities and improved social
facilities. In our view, each action standing
November / December 2008
on its own fails in resolving the problem.
It is only with the combination of these
a