John Wilson

Summary

This chapter examines some of the greatest threats to human security emanating from transnational crime. Such threats include terrorism, human trafficking and slavery, the international trade in weapons and armaments, environmental crime, illicit drug trafficking, piracy, corruption and bribery of public officials. These crimes present great challenges to the rule of law, economic and social development, and the protection of human rights and security. In particular transnational crimes can undermine people’s quality of life and threaten their human security by limiting access to employment and educational opportunities. The chapter begins with a definition of transnational crime, provides examples of the human security issues associated with the victims of transnational crime, and summarises the particular human security issues associated with trafficking in persons. The chapter then explores the history and limitations of international efforts to address those threats.

Chapter Overview

13.1 International Crime or Transnational Crime? Some Definitions

13.2 Globalization and Transnational Crime

13.3 The Economic Scale of Transnational Crime

13.3.1 Economic Revenues from Transnational Crime

13.4 The Threat of Transnational Crime

13.5 Transnational Crime as a Human Security Threat

13.6 Trafficking in Persons

13.7 International Efforts to Address Transnational Crime

13.8 Regional Efforts to Address Transnational Crime

13.9 Sovereignty, Security or Sentiment? Solving Transnational Crime

Resources and References

Key Points

Extension Activities & Further Research

List of Terms

Suggested Reading

References

Bibliography

13.1 International Crime or Transnational Crime? Some Definitions

In 1995, the United Nations (UN) defined transnational crime as offences “whose inception, perpetration and/or direct or indirect effects involve more than one country” (UNODC, 2002, p.4). In 2000 the UN Convention on Transnational Organized Crime defined an offence as transnational if it met one of these four conditions: if it is committed in more than one state, if it is committed in one state but a substantial part of its preparation, planning, direction, or control takes place in another state, if it is committed in one state but involves an organized criminal group that engages in criminal activities in more than one state, and finally, if it is committed in one state but has substantial effects in another state.^[1]

Transnational crimes therefore involve offences that cross international borders or which affect the interests of more than one state. It can be distinguished from domestic crime (offences that occur within a single national jurisdiction) and international crime (offending that is recognised in international law and against the world community). Examples of international criminal offences that are subject to prosecution are those that threaten world order and security, crimes against humanity and fundamental human rights, war crimes, and genocide (Partin, 2015). For example, in 2001 the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia reached a verdict that the rape and sexual enslavement of women and girls in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina that occurred in 1992 constituted crimes against humanity. (See Chapter 6 for a discussion of offences against international criminal and humanitarian law.)

The UN has identified several different categories of transnational crime: drug trafficking, trafficking in persons, organ trafficking, trafficking in cultural property, counterfeiting, money laundering, terrorist activities, theft of intellectual property, illicit traffic in arms, aircraft hijacking, sea piracy, hijacking on land, insurance fraud, environmental crime, fraudulent bankruptcy, infiltration of legal business, corruption and bribery of public officials, and other offences committed by organized criminal groups (UNODC, 2002, p. 4).

There are also a number of new and emerging transnational crimes that have been identified by the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Transnational Organized Crime including cybercrime, identity-related crimes and fraudulent medicine (UNODC, 2018).

13.2 Globalization and Transnational Crime

Transnational crimes may be committed by individuals working alone but more often they involve organised groups or networks of individuals working in more than one country. Disparate crime groups seem to be communicating, sharing information and coordinating their operations to a greater extent than in the past. In part, these organizations have been helped by corrupt or weak governments and by the resurgence of ethnic and regional conflicts across the former Soviet Union that followed the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. (For the significance of failed states see Chapter 14.)

As well, criminal organisations are taking advantage of the opportunities created by globalization – easier, faster and cheaper communication technologies, deregulated financial markets, and more open borders that allow increased flows of people and money (UNODC, 2002).

For example, the development of digital communications, encrypted digital streaming, and high-quality video conferencing have made it easier for transnational criminal groups to diversify and expand their activities by communicating, sharing information, and transferring money around the world.

Globalisation is also implicated in a particular form of transnational crime — human trafficking. Although globalisation has made it easier to transport goods and capital across international borders, labour markets and human migration have remained highly regulated. Restrictions on immigration such as visa requirements have become more stringent, making it more difficult for migrants or so called ‘economic refugees’ to escape impoverished or oppressive countries, or those involved in conflict. This has increased the demand for illegal immigration which means that human trafficking has become more profitable. According to Yury Fedotov, the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), globalization has turned out to be a double-edged sword, allowing loose networks of terrorists and organised criminal groups to easily link with each other, to pool their resources and expertise and to significantly increase their capacity to do harm (UN, 2011).

13.3 The Economic Scale of Transnational Crime

Because it contravenes the laws of at least one state, those involved in transnational crime try to keep it secret, making it difficult to measure in economic terms. Nevertheless, transnational crime is big business and money is the primary motivation for those that engage in it. At the global level the revenues of transnational criminal activities were estimated in 2014 to range between US$1.6 trillion and $2.2 trillion per year (May 2017, p. ix). This would represent about 2.5 per cent of 2014 global gross domestic product (Statista, 2018).

Section 13.3.1 shows that drug trafficking and counterfeiting may account for as much as 81 per cent of this total, roughly $1.8 trillion. Counterfeiting is the single largest transnational crime category involving pirated goods and the theft of intellectual property. It is estimated that between two-thirds and three-quarters of counterfeit goods come from China (UNODC, 2013, p. 123).

The counterfeiting trade provides transnational criminal groups with an avenue for laundering the enormous financial profits as well as financing other crimes such as drug trafficking. The revenues also enable them to corrupt politicians, judges and police authorities, and thereby facilitate the organisation and planning of their activities.

13.3.1 Economic Revenues from Transnational Crime^[2]

• Counterfeit goods, total: $923 billion to $1.13 trillion
  • Counterfeit and pirated goods: $466 billion
  • Digitally pirated goods: $213 billion
  • Electronics: $169 billion
  • Pharmaceuticals: $70 billion to $200 billion
  • Tobacco products: $5.2 billion
• Drugs, total: $426 billion to $652 billion
• Humans, total: $151.5 billion
  • Human body parts: $840 million to $1.7 billion
  • Human trafficking: $150.2 billion
• Resources, total: $91 billion to $278 billion
  • Art and cultural property: $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion
  • Fish: $15.5 billion to $36.4 billion
  • Mining: $12 billion to $48 billion
  • Oil: $5.5 billion to $11.9 billion
  • Timber: $52 billion to $157 billion
  • Wildlife: $5 billion to $23 billion
• Small arms and light weapons, total: $1.7 billion to $3.5 billion
• All illegal trade: $1.6 trillion to $2.2 trillion

13.4 The Threat of Transnational Crime

Transnational crime has conventionally been seen as a threat to the state, threatening its national and regional security and rule of law, impeding its political and economic development, and limiting the social and cultural development of its society. Transnational criminals undermine the political and economic institutions of the state through the corruption and bribery of the police, immigration, customs officials, and the judiciary. For example, following the East Asian financial crisis (1997–1998) that resulted in increased poverty and unemployment, some of Indonesia’s coastal inhabitants turned to sea piracy as a means of survival. Low rates of pay among Indonesia’s police, navy and other maritime officials and port workers make them susceptible to corruption by pirates who offer money in exchange for information about the movements of ships and their cargoes (Emmers, 2010).

The illegal exploitation of environmental resources is made possible, and sometimes even organised, by the complicity and protection of corrupt elements in the civil service, security forces and legislature (Elliot, 2007). Over a longer time frame, corruption and bribery destroys the trust that citizens have in the rule of law and the institutions of governance. This is of particular concern in developing countries where the very institutions necessary to tackle transnational crime – political, bureaucratic and law enforcement – are already weakened, as explained in Chapter 8.

Transnational crime also results in much economic harm to the state and its inhabitants through decreased taxation revenues for the state and less employment. The trade in counterfeit parts, for example, costs US automobile manufacturers and suppliers about $12 billion in revenue annually, while up to $9 billion in trade is lost by US companies due to international copyright piracy. Estimates of US job losses due to counterfeiting are as high as 750,000 (International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, 2011). Corresponding job gains in poor countries remain unregulated and insecure. Transnational crime can also result in the breakdown of social structures and can be very costly for a country’s social development. Children who lose a parent to trafficking must often quit school and work in order to help support the family. The loss of education has enormous implications for the child, but also for the society as a whole in terms of its future economic development.

13.5 Transnational Crime as a Human Security Threat

Increasingly, transnational crime is being recognised as not only a threat to national security, but as a major threat to human security. Although this threat is often indirect it is nevertheless substantial, and the immense sums of money involved, as well as the penalties of getting caught, means that the trafficking of drugs, people, goods, and resources is a high stakes game carried out by those who without hesitation use systematic violence against those that become caught up in such activities.

This poses direct threats to the lives of individuals, and many people living with extreme poverty or unemployment attempt to enhance their prospects by seeking work abroad and then fall victim to people-smuggling and trafficking networks. Such victims of human trafficking are often subject to dangerous and traumatic conditions – such as being transported in concealed spaces, sealed in cargo containers, or cramped up in leaky boats. Women and minors who are trafficked often end up in positions of forced prostitution, sometimes forcibly addicted to drugs, and vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS and communicable diseases like tuberculosis. There are also traumatic psychological effects associated with human trafficking. The experience of being trafficked and the separation of children from their parents, and the break-up of family life can place a heavy toll on victims.

Illegal resource extraction also poses human security threats. The environmental resources that individuals and communities rely on for their own personal security – for food, medicines, building materials, irrigation and trade – are compromised by the illegal exploitation, intimidation, and violence that often accompany such transnational environmental crime. Illegal timber logging, for example, can lead to soil erosion and landslides, destroy wildlife habitats, and degrade water tables and river systems (Elliot, 2007). The smuggling of wildlife, especially of those species that are already endangered, threatens overall biodiversity. It also poses bio-security and disease threats to the areas and people to which they are re-located. Avian Influenza (H5N1), Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Heartwater Disease, and Monkeypox are examples of such threats.

Counterfeiting poses another serious threat to human security, particularly to human health and safety. The World Health Organization estimates annual counterfeit pharmaceutical sales at around $35 to $40 billion, and the US Food and Drug Administration estimates that counterfeit drugs account for 10% of all drugs sold in the United States. Such fake pharmaceuticals can be very dangerous for consumers – they often lack the active ingredients that can alleviate the medical condition, and in some cases even contain toxic substances (Haken, 2011). Counterfeit toys also pose a danger to children if they are painted with lead paint, and counterfeit batteries and cigarette lighters have been known to explode. Counterfeit auto and airplane parts pose some of the biggest dangers for consumers because they are not subject to safety testing. The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that two percent (520,000) of the 26 million airline parts installed each year are counterfeit; in 2003, the Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association cited examples of counterfeit auto parts compromising safety: brake linings made of compressed grass, sawdust or cardboard; transmission fluid made of cheap oil that is dyed; and oil filters that use rags for the filter element (Haken, 2011). Moreover, because producers of counterfeit goods are unlikely to meet minimum labour or environmental standards, they threaten the health and safety of their labour force. The use of child labour, poor if not dangerous working conditions (such as environmentally toxic production), and low wages are illustrations of the ways in which the human security risks of counterfeiting are not just confined to those who buy or use them.

Another way that transnational criminal groups threaten human security is by exploiting individuals and local communities that have limited economic resources. For example, farmers involved in subsistence agriculture may turn from legal crop production to the higher returns available from illegal drug cultivation. It is well documented that the groups controlling drug trafficking also engage in other sorts of violent and criminal enterprise, such as the extreme number of mass murders occurring in Mexico. The profits from drug trafficking may also appeal to terrorist organisations or militant insurgents such as Al Qaeda, the FARC in Colombia, and possibly Hezbollah in Lebanon (Haken, 2011).

Thus, the human security threats posed by transnational crime involve victimization, violence, and health and safety issues as individuals get caught up. Since the perpetrators are often from outside a region, indigenous communities, women and children become particularly vulnerable to the kinds of human rights abuses associated with this type of crime. In the light of such risks, any economic advantages that these illegal activities might provide to poor regions still do not outweigh the injustices that accompany them.

13.6 Trafficking in Persons

Human trafficking, or trafficking in persons, remains difficult to address not least because there is an overlap between trafficking and illegal immigration (Chapter 6). The practice involves the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harbouring or receiving a person through the use of force, coercion or other means, for the purpose of exploiting them. Illegal immigration or the smuggling of migrants involves the illegal entry of a person into a state of which that person is not a national or resident, facilitated by agents for financial gain (UN, 2000). A person may voluntarily seek to be smuggled into a country but once there become victimised – held against their will through acts of coercion and forced to work or provide services to the trafficker or others. For example, a person may be forced into bonded labour, forced labour, or to become a sex worker through threats of violence, or by having their passports held by their employers. Sexual exploitation accounts for about 79% of human trafficking, while forced labour accounts for almost one in five victims (UNODC, 2009).

It should be noted though, that the Trafficking Protocol (see below) sees the voluntary consent of a victim of trafficking in persons as irrelevant to their exploitation in most circumstances. These include the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude, or the removal of organs. Human trafficking for the purpose of organ removal is known as an ancillary trade where organized crime groups traffic victims across borders through false promises or coercion to sell their organs, such as kidneys. While trafficking of persons for organ removal is a criminal act under the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, the Protocol “does not cover the transfer of organs (for profit) alone; trafficking in organs, under the Protocol, only occurs if an individual is trafficked for the purpose of organ removal” (UN, 2008). Only in a few cases are trafficking victims actually kidnapped or taken by force. More usual is that they volunteer to be smuggled into a new country that offers better economic opportunities, or an escape from oppressive conditions in their own country, only to fall prey to traffickers who then use coercion to exploit and entrap them. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) estimates there are at least 67 million domestic workers over the age of 15 worldwide, 80% of which are women. Almost one-fifth (17%) of domestic workers are migrant workers, and many have few rights or face severe exploitation (ILO, 2017).

It is unsurprising, therefore, that most victims of human trafficking originate from developing countries. In an analysis of sex trafficking into Europe, for example, the majority of victims were found to have come from developing countries newly formed following the breakup of the former Soviet Union (UNODC, 2009). Other source countries include those of Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Nigeria, Morocco, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. If the victims tend to originate in developing countries, it is developed countries — including those in the European Union, the United States, Canada, Israel, Japan, and Australia — which are their final destinations. Saudi Arabia and Turkey are also destination countries, especially for domestic servants and labourers. China, India, Pakistan, Poland, Thailand, and the Czech Republic can be both origin and destination countries. However, no country in the world is necessarily immune from human trafficking, with people from 127 countries being exploited in 137 nations (UNODC, 2009). In some cases prosecution is hampered by the fact, or the perception, that the illegal workers make a sizeable contribution to the host country’s economy. Because transnational crimes such as human trafficking and people smuggling are clandestine, an accurate assessment of the scale of the problem is not possible; estimates vary. According to the International Labour Organisation there were an estimated 40.3 million people in modern slavery (forced labour, bonded labour, and forced prostitution) around the world in 2016. Women and girls comprise 71% (28.7 million) of the total, but 99% of the victims of forced labour in the commercial sex industry and 58 per cent in other sectors (ILO, 2014).

In 2007, the UN estimated the total market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion, including about $22 billion of profits from the activities of the victims (UN, 2007). A more recent study by the ILO now estimates that the total illegal profits obtained from the use of forced labour worldwide amounts to US$150.2 billion per year. An estimated two thirds of the profits from forced labour were generated by forced sexual exploitation, amounting to an estimated US$ 99 billion per year (ILO, 2017).

13.7 International Efforts to Address Transnational Crime

Transnational organized crime cannot be addressed by individual nations acting alone. As organized criminal networks have become globalised, efforts to combat them requires a coordinated transnational response. Such efforts can be traced back to the middle of the 19^th century when Britain, France, Russia, Prussia and Austria signed the Quintuple Treaty in 1841 in a multilateral effort to suppress the slave trade. Heretofore efforts aimed at the abolition of slavery had been primarily unilateral or bilateral. Subsequently the International Agreement on the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic was signed by Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Switzerland in 1904, and in 1910 this agreement became a Convention and permanent governmental bodies were established to suppress trafficking. Further extensions to the scope and membership of the Convention occurred later in 1921 and 1933 — the latter providing for the prosecution of persons who recruited adult women for prostitution abroad, even with their consent. And in 1949 the UN General Assembly adopted the powers and functions of the 1921 and 1933 Conventions (UN, 2007). Numerous other conventions and agencies have also been established by the UN, including the UN Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. In 1988 the UN Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was introduced. In recognising the links between illicit drug traffic and other organized criminal activities, the Convention aimed at strengthening and enhancing effective legal means for international co-operation in suppressing the international criminal activities of illicit drug trafficking.

Further international efforts are directed at enforcement. In 1923 the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) was founded to provide a vehicle for the exchange of information and assistance between police forces, and currently has 188 member countries. The Group of Seven (G7) created the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in 1989 to combat money laundering and in 1999 established the Lyon Group to increase international cooperation against transnational crime. The United States, through its Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security, are also involved in efforts to improve the international investigation of crime. For example the Federal Bureau of Investigation has an Office of International Operations that enables FBI agents to be stationed in more than 50 countries where they help train domestic law enforcement personnel and investigate drug trafficking offences. The Office facilitates the on-going exchange of information with foreign law enforcement and intelligence agencies and reciprocal assistance in criminal and other matters.

More recent UN efforts include the adoption of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime in 2000 (the Palermo Convention), which came into force in 2003. States that ratify this instrument commit themselves to taking a series of measures including:

• The passing of legislation facilitating the prosecution of some domestic criminal offences (participation in an organised criminal group, money laundering, corruption and obstruction of justice)
• The adoption of new and sweeping frameworks for extradition, mutual legal assistance and law enforcement cooperation
• The promotion of training and technical assistance for building or upgrading the necessary capacity of national authorities.

The Convention is further supplemented by three Protocols, which target specific areas and manifestations of organized crime: the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (also known as the Trafficking protocol—adopted in 2000, and in force since 2003); the Protocol against the Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air (adopted in 2000 and entered into force in 2004; and the Protocol against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition (adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2005).

The Trafficking Protocol is a global, legally binding instrument that, by 2018, had been signed by 117 countries and 173 parties. It defines trafficking as:

the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. (UN, 2000, Article 3)

Providing a common definition of trafficking across national jurisdictions is important and should allow increased international cooperation in investigating and prosecuting the trafficking of persons. The Protocol is also designed to improve the human security of those who often fall prey to trafficking by guaranteeing the respect of their human rights.

In 2010 the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations. In 2016 the UN Security Council adopted its first resolution on human trafficking (2331), which called on member states to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle criminal networks by utilizing anti-money laundering, anti-corruption, and counterterrorism laws. It also emphasized the importance of international cooperation in law enforcement and strong partnerships with the private sector and civil society.

Then in 2017 the UN General Assembly adopted a political declaration reaffirming commitments to implement the Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Political Declaration includes a directive to examine the progress achieved and the continuing challenges for international organizations and officials at the national, regional, and global levels. The Political Declaration also strengthens the capacity of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to collect information in order to connect and harmonize anti-trafficking efforts across UN programmes and policies.

Other efforts to combat human trafficking include joint initiatives between the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. Together they launched the book Combating Trafficking in Persons: A Handbook for Parliamentarians in April 2009 (IPU & UNODC, 2009). The book covers international laws and good practices developed to combat human trafficking. It also offers guidance on how national legislation can be brought into line with international standards. It outlines measures to prevent trafficking, prosecute offenders and protect victims, and also contains advice on how to report on human trafficking and how to encourage civil society organisations to combat human trafficking.

Nevertheless, state authorities often view the trafficking of people as a migrant problem, rather than as an issue of wider criminal significance. Such a stance results in trafficked people being deported as illegal immigrants rather than as being seen as victims of a crime requiring state investigation. The prosecution of those involved in transnational crime networks is also fraught with difficulty. It carries risk or reprisal for those giving evidence – either from state authorities who view their presence as illegal or from the traffickers themselves. Thus the under-reporting of trafficking and its associated criminal activities, such as sexual violence and other human rights abuses, is very likely.

The United Nations’ Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was adopted in 2001. It provides a non-legally binding framework for states to adopt various measures to combat the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons at the national, regional and international levels. In assessing the programme of action the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) noted the progress made in establishing a variety of mechanisms and norms and the considerable resources states, international organizations and NGOs had invested to support its implementation. However, the ICRC was unable to say whether the Programme of Action had saved lives on the ground or led to an overall reduction in the availability of illicit arms and believed that “more binding and comprehensive measures are sorely needed” (ICRC, 2005, n.p.).^[3]

13.8 Regional Efforts to Address Transnational Crime

While United Nations and multilateral conventions are an important mechanism for combating transnational crime and enhancing human security, there are some limitations to such international efforts. For example, there are differences among countries in their perception of the seriousness of the problem, in their commitment to adhere and enforce such conventions, and in their ability and willingness to prosecute trafficking offenders — which requires on-going political commitment to contribute the necessary economic resources. Other barriers to effective international efforts to combat transnational crime include bureaucratic inflexibility and a lack of information sharing. Instead of international conventions, therefore, it may be that regional efforts and structures for enforcement — such as the European Union Europol or Southeast Asia’s Aseanapol — offer a better approach. This is because regional governments are more likely to face similar crime problems, be more willing to share information, be more able to harmonize laws against transnational crime, and be more willing to cooperate in enforcing such laws.

One example is the 2005 Council of Europe Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. This develops a rights-based approach to trafficking based on prevention, the protection of victims, and the prosecution of traffickers. In an operation in March 2011 in ‘one of the biggest cases of its kind’ Europol identified 670 suspects, arrested 184 persons, and identified and rescued 230 children.^[4] All of the Council of Europe’s 47 members had ratified the Convention as of June 2019.

Another regional example is the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) whose member states have adopted a common position and expressed their willingness to increase cooperation against transnational crime. The Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons and Related Transnational Crime was established in 2002 to help ASEAN members work together on practical measures to help combat the smuggling of people, trafficking in persons, and related transnational crimes in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond. The Declaration from the Sixth Bali Process Ministerial Conference in 2016 acknowledged:

the growing scale and complexity of irregular migration challenges both within and outside the Asia Pacific region … [and] supports measures that would contribute to comprehensive long term strategies addressing the crimes of people smuggling and human trafficking as well as reducing migrant exploitation by expanding safe, legal and affordable migration pathways. (Ministerial Conference of the Bali Process, 2016, pp. 1, 5)

For the most part, the regional approach of ASEAN appears to be limited to releasing numerous communiqués, with member countries lacking in resources and confronting high levels of corruption. Moreover, because ASEAN is built on a consensus model, members are reluctant to criticise each other, leading to resistance to institutional reforms and few concrete policy outcomes (Emmers, 2010). In the case of piracy at sea, for example, most ASEAN members tend to respect the limits of their territorial jurisdiction and are reluctant to prosecute pirates if those crimes were committed outside of their own jurisdiction. Criminal groups tend to exploit this reluctance and often commit their crimes in the territorial waters of one state before seeking sanctuary under another country’s jurisdiction.

13.9 Sovereignty, Security or Sentiment? Solving Transnational Crime

We can see that part of the problem in trying to tackle transnational crime derives from the principles of conduct underpinning the international system. Those principles sometimes limit effective international co-operation among states. They include the territorial sovereignty and limited jurisdiction of states and the narrow self-interests of states that define their domestic priorities. International measures and cooperation to protect the human security of the victims of transnational crime will not be forthcoming if they threaten a state’s national security and interests. Even if such international agreements are reached they may be weakened or limited by the states themselves – resulting in agreements that provide for ad hoc non-binding commitments that lack the funding necessary to establish monitoring mechanisms or agencies responsible for the problem, that fail to set timetables or targets, and that fail to generate public interest in the issue through an acquiescent media industry.

A further normative problem is the framing of transnational crime as a security issue threatening the state, rather than as an issue affecting the security of human beings. For example, the Counter-Terrorism Task Force (CTTF), established by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in 2002, is emerging as an action-oriented security actor. While the rapid evolution of an APEC security regime is drawing APEC members into an ever-deeper series of counter-terrorism commitments, it has not been fully welcomed by all ASEAN members. Disagreements among APEC members over the legitimacy and wisdom of a security role for APEC are emerging and creating a fault-line within the organisation. Whereas Singapore and Thailand have welcomed US-led initiatives within a counter-terrorism context, officials from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam have openly expressed reservations, arguing that they do not wish to be associated with the US “War on Terror”, which is widely regarded amongst their populations as anti-Muslim, unilateral, pre-emptive, and disproportionately military.

More effective action against transnational crime could be achieved if instead it were seen as a criminal issue threatening the human security of individuals. This would require individual nations to criminalize all types of transnational crime in their own domestic criminal codes as well as to sign bilateral agreements, extradition treaties, and mutual legal assistance treaties with other nations to ensure that law enforcement officials have the authority to investigate and prosecute these activities as criminal offences. For example, while many Southeast Asian countries have bilateral extradition treaties with the United States, only a few have signed them with each other. The situation is even worse in some countries where the rule of law and the legal system is weak or only partially applied. Myanmar, Cambodia and, to some extent, Vietnam are states where the legal system is undermined by a lack of democratic representation, corruption, and domestic struggles for power. Such states are therefore ideal environments for transnational criminal groups. For example, the United Wa State Army operates with impunity in Northeast Myanmar and is estimated to control 80 per cent of the opium and heroin trade in the country (Emmers 2010). If states fail to criminalize transnational crime at a national level, it becomes much more difficult to create or enforce regional or international efforts to address such activity.

Beyond international, regional, and national responses important contributions are made by the efforts of well-resourced Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. For example in 2007, NGOs, together with the UN, launched The Global Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking. This was the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade (UN, 2007). In essence NGOs are attempting to change and shape the global norms (guiding values) concerning transnational crime. A combination of religious beliefs, humanitarian sentiments, faith in progress, compassion, and moral conscience helped eliminate the slave trade of the 19^th century. A similar set of ethical values motivate NGOs to persuade states to address modern transnational crimes such as human trafficking or the ivory trade. NGOs work towards establishing a moral consensus by states and societies that all peoples, irrespective of their nationality, gender, age, race, or religion, or other defining characteristics, are entitled to the basic protections ensuring their human security (Nadelmann, 1990).

Resources and References

Review

.

List of Terms

See Glossary for full list of terms and definitions.

• domestic crime
• human trafficking
• international crime
• transnational crime

Suggested Reading

Centre for Information and Research on Organised Crime (CIROC). (n.d.). CIROC newsletter. http://www.ciroc.nl/en/newsletter.html

Drug production and trafficking. (n.d.). United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Retrieved September 5, 2019, from http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/drug-production-and-trafficking.html^[5]

Einstein, S., & Amir, M. (Eds.). (1999). Organized crime: Uncertainties and dilemmas. University of Illinois at Chicago; Office of International Criminal Justice.^[6]

The European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control, affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI). (n.d.). HEUNI. https://www.heuni.fi/en/

International Organization for Migration. (n.d.). International Organization for Migration. https://www.iom.int/

Kleemans, E. R. (2015). Follow the money: Introduction to the special issue ‘Financial Aspects of Organized Crime’. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 21(2), 213–216. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-015-9279-5

Kruisbergen, E. W., Kleemans, E. R., & Kouwenberg, R. F. (2016). Explaining attrition: Investigating and confiscating the proceeds of organized crime. European Journal of Criminology, 13(6), 677–695. https://doi.org/10.1177/1477370816633262

Leukfeldt, E. R., Kleemans, E. R., & Stol, W. P. (2016). Cybercriminal networks, social ties and online forums: Social ties versus digital ties within phishing and malware networks. The British Journal of Criminology, 57(3), 704–722. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azw009

Schar School Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center. (n.d.). Publications listing. http://traccc.gmu.edu/publications-research/publications/

Shelley, L. I. (2018). Dark commerce: How a new illicit economy is threatening our future. Princeton University Press.

Siegel, D. (2016). Ethnicity, crime and sex work: A triple taboo. In D. Siegel & R. de Wildt (Eds.), Ethical concerns in research on human trafficking (pp. 71–83). Springer.

Siegel, D., Bunt, H., & Zaitch, D. (Eds.). (2003). Global organized crime: Trends and developments. Springer.^[7]

Siegel, D., & de Wildt, R. (Eds.). (2016). Ethical concerns in research on human trafficking. Springer.

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