No More Bets: Labour Trafficking through Online Scams in Southeast Asia
(2024) JAMM07 20241Faculty of Law
Department of Law
- Abstract
- This thesis examines an unconventional issue of human trafficking, which has arisen very recently in the Southeast Asia region. An increasing number of scam centres have been identified, wherein trafficking victims were recruited to operate online fraudulent schemes. This emerging trafficking phenomenon exhibits distinctive characteristics compared to the traditional one, including the flow of migration, profile of targets, status of victims and a more organized nature of crime. These differences means that existing ways of working on counter-trafficking may be inadequate. This issue necessitates an in-depth study and discussion from multidimensional perspectives to understand its complexities and challenges to the international peace and... (More)
- This thesis examines an unconventional issue of human trafficking, which has arisen very recently in the Southeast Asia region. An increasing number of scam centres have been identified, wherein trafficking victims were recruited to operate online fraudulent schemes. This emerging trafficking phenomenon exhibits distinctive characteristics compared to the traditional one, including the flow of migration, profile of targets, status of victims and a more organized nature of crime. These differences means that existing ways of working on counter-trafficking may be inadequate. This issue necessitates an in-depth study and discussion from multidimensional perspectives to understand its complexities and challenges to the international peace and security and to effectively address it.
A legal analysis, therefore, will shed light on how different international law regimes are applicable, what have or have not been breached under international law, what shall be complied or considered by States while combating the trafficking and how States can be held accountable. To respond to these, the ‘legal doctrinal research’ method is employed through the ‘analytical legal research’, in particular. Hence, the results of this thesis is based on deductive reasoning by applying rules of law to a factual situation. For this purpose, the author has consulted with both primary and secondary legal sources and qualitative data that is collected from existing reliable documents and similar sources, such as official statements, reports, articles, news and medias related to the situation at hand.
The discussion has illustrated that the situation of forced criminality in Southeast Asia falls under the definition of trafficking in persons for forced labour exploitation. The founding of labour trafficking in this case has given rise to obligations of States under various international treaties and customary rule related to trafficking in persons. In addition, human rights treaties are proven to be applicable as several rights of trafficking victims have been proven to be violated throughout the trafficking cycle. Obligations come with consequences or, in other words, responsibilities of States. This thesis has demonstrated how States can be held accountable for wrongful acts committed by private entities, such as trafficking in persons. The international responsibility of Southeast Asian States in this case can be established through their violations of international law by attribution, the direct breach of their obligations to prevent, protect and response, and the breach of due diligence standard. Moreover, the author also established that the principle of shared responsibility is applicable to this case. States have common, but differentiated obligations, in which they shall be held responsible respectively based on their status as a State of origin, transit or/and destination. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9166821
- author
- Men, Monyneath LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JAMM07 20241
- year
- 2024
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Labour trafficking, Southeast Asia, online scams into forced criminality, international human rights law, forced labour, slavery, international obligations, state responsibility
- language
- English
- id
- 9166821
- date added to LUP
- 2024-06-25 11:22:44
- date last changed
- 2024-06-25 11:22:44
@misc{9166821,
abstract = {{This thesis examines an unconventional issue of human trafficking, which has arisen very recently in the Southeast Asia region. An increasing number of scam centres have been identified, wherein trafficking victims were recruited to operate online fraudulent schemes. This emerging trafficking phenomenon exhibits distinctive characteristics compared to the traditional one, including the flow of migration, profile of targets, status of victims and a more organized nature of crime. These differences means that existing ways of working on counter-trafficking may be inadequate. This issue necessitates an in-depth study and discussion from multidimensional perspectives to understand its complexities and challenges to the international peace and security and to effectively address it.
A legal analysis, therefore, will shed light on how different international law regimes are applicable, what have or have not been breached under international law, what shall be complied or considered by States while combating the trafficking and how States can be held accountable. To respond to these, the ‘legal doctrinal research’ method is employed through the ‘analytical legal research’, in particular. Hence, the results of this thesis is based on deductive reasoning by applying rules of law to a factual situation. For this purpose, the author has consulted with both primary and secondary legal sources and qualitative data that is collected from existing reliable documents and similar sources, such as official statements, reports, articles, news and medias related to the situation at hand.
The discussion has illustrated that the situation of forced criminality in Southeast Asia falls under the definition of trafficking in persons for forced labour exploitation. The founding of labour trafficking in this case has given rise to obligations of States under various international treaties and customary rule related to trafficking in persons. In addition, human rights treaties are proven to be applicable as several rights of trafficking victims have been proven to be violated throughout the trafficking cycle. Obligations come with consequences or, in other words, responsibilities of States. This thesis has demonstrated how States can be held accountable for wrongful acts committed by private entities, such as trafficking in persons. The international responsibility of Southeast Asian States in this case can be established through their violations of international law by attribution, the direct breach of their obligations to prevent, protect and response, and the breach of due diligence standard. Moreover, the author also established that the principle of shared responsibility is applicable to this case. States have common, but differentiated obligations, in which they shall be held responsible respectively based on their status as a State of origin, transit or/and destination.}},
author = {{Men, Monyneath}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{No More Bets: Labour Trafficking through Online Scams in Southeast Asia}},
year = {{2024}},
}