Human Trafficking in Southeast Asia: Why the end is not in sight
Posted on 25 Nov 2021 by Sangee Krishnan
Disclaimer: The views expressed below are that of the individual author.
As non-traditional security threats become more prominent in today’s security landscape, there has been an increasing focus on threats to society and the individual. Non-traditional security threats are not military in nature, with one such example being human trafficking. A modern form of slavery, human trafficking has been re-framed as a national security threat by states and is no longer just a human rights issue. Owing to globalisation, the world is becoming more interconnected. Thus, human trafficking can be viewed as both transnational and complex. Even though human trafficking is recognised as a threat worldwide and there is a universal call to end it, responses are often lacking. There are existing efforts that have been undertaken by the international and regional communities as well as individual states. Yet, the problem has escalated with the rise of technology and social media.
In particular, Southeast Asia stands out, given that many victims are in or from the region. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has recognised human trafficking as a key policy issue that requires collective action, and they have taken significant steps to combat it. These include signing bilateral agreements and developing frameworks such as the ‘ASEAN Convention against Trafficking in Persons especially Women and Children’ in 2015. So why does human trafficking persist in the Southeast Asia region?
First, this article will summarise the human trafficking network in Southeast Asia, but it is not unique to the region. Individual states can be grouped into source, destination, and transit countries or a combination of all. There are states which ‘supply’ victims for trafficking; they are known as ‘source’ states. States where victims are trafficked into are known as ‘destination’ countries. Meanwhile, ‘transit’ states, as the name suggests, are the states that victims are trafficked through. The focus of this article will be on source and destination states.
There is no simple way to answer why the exploitation of people persists, but we will discuss two reasons in this article. The first is the economic benefits of the human trafficking trade. Worldwide, the human trafficking industry is highly profitable. According to a 2014 report by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the industry has generated more than 150 billion US dollars, with most of the profits attributed to the Asia Pacific region[1]. Human trafficking has become a profit-driven enterprise in its own right. The high risk and high reward crime is attractive to criminals, who view people as a natural resource to exploit for their gain. However, the industry not only lines the pockets of criminals but also helps some states’ economies. Even though human trafficking is a violation of human rights and illegal in many countries, governments see it as beneficial for their countries’ growth and prosperity. They avoid enacting legislation or enforcing human trafficking-related laws. Indeed, state officials are also bribed to look the other way, but that is a separate matter.
Sex work and forced labour are two such fates that befall victims of human trafficking, and both are beneficial to countries’ economies. According to an article by ILO, sex tourism contributes 2 to 14% of GDP for four Southeast Asian countries (Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines).[2]Indirectly, other businesses such as hotels, bars, and entertainment facilities see increased revenue when tourists engage with the sex industry. Governments thus do not take a harsh stance in enforcing anti-human trafficking laws; instead, they reap the rewards from sex tourism. For example, Thailand is known as a sex tourism destination, with the government supporting its growth. An increased demand for their sex industry has resulted in more men, women and children being trafficked to Thailand. Forced labour is similarly beneficial to economies. Countries with limited labour regulations and enforcement attract many businesses who seek to maximise their profits by paying meagre salaries to their workers. Malaysia, for example, has no minimum wage. According to an article published by The Guardian, foreign businesses are attracted to the country due to its’ relaxed labour regulations.[3]Many undocumented workers in Malaysia’s electronic industry live in poor living conditions and are forced to pay huge debts. Yet, Malaysia has reaped the benefits from cheap labour at the expense of victims trafficked into the country.
The underdevelopment of source states is another reason why human trafficking persists in Southeast Asia. As many of these states face difficulties in developing, it would arguably be unrealistic to expect their governments to focus heavily on human security. Both a lack of mechanisms to prevent criminals from exploiting citizens and underdevelopment have led to many families selling their children to traffickers to make ends meet. Certainly, many do attempt to migrate in search of a better life. However, they are manipulated by the traffickers and become victims of the slave trade. The lack of development in these states could be attributed to mismanagement, but another reason is the rampant corruption at the highest levels of government. An additional causal relationship exists between corruption and human trafficking, with traffickers viewing states with corrupt governments as attractive to conduct their ‘business. By establishing ties and bribing state officials at every level, traffickers are able to abduct people in the country with minimal risk of apprehension. Bribery and corruption, of course, also occur in destination countries.
The push factors from source states and pull factors from destination states together contribute to the human trafficking dilemma. We can further observe how the supply and demand model supports the growth of transnational criminal networks. The higher the ‘demand’ for trafficked victims in destination countries, the larger the ‘supply’ of victims abducted from the source. Human trafficking has grown into a profit-making empire at the expense of human lives. Even though there are calls at the regional level to solve human trafficking, we are witnessing a rollback of human rights violations that will never stop unless human security is prioritised.
[1]Profits and Poverty: The Economics of Forced Labour, (International Labour Organisation, 2014), https://www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_243391/lang–en/index.htm, p13
[2]Lim LL, Sex industry assuming massive proportions in Southeast Asia, (International Labour Organisation, 19 Aug 1998), https://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_007994/lang–en/index.htm
[3]Hodal K and Kelly A, Malaysia: forced labour casts dark shadow over electronics industry, (The Guardian, 21 Nov 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/nov/21/malaysia-forced-labour-casts-dark-shadow-over-electronics-industry
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