The international and regional legal framework created to combat trafficking is clearly in place. There are also legal definitions. It has moved from shameful beginnings to the detailed support for those who have been trafficked. Because of the breadth of the regional and international instruments and their recent date, it would be difficult to argue that such legislation is the product of ‘Western’ thought, and therefore it ought to be easier to harness the political will of all states to enforce legislation aimed at protecting some of the globe’s most vulnerable people.
Geraldine Van Bueren QC
Edited by Valsamis Mitsilegas, Saskia Hufnagel and Anton Moiseienko
Emiline Smith
This chapter attempts to provide a regional overview of transnational criminality in Asia, a continent marked by great diversity. It makes use of selected examples of illegal flows of goods and services, such as the trafficking of drugs, weapons, people, and cultural and natural resources, to explain the causes, consequences and challenges associated with transnational criminality in Asia. Recent large-scale trade liberalisation and infrastructure projects, such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative, promote connectivity and mobility across the region and even globally. However, such initiatives also risk facilitating transnational criminality, particularly when combined with the widespread economic underdevelopment, conflict and corruption that still trouble parts of Asia. Additionally, countering the many forms of transnational crime is made more difficult by differences in legislation and law enforcement capacity between countries. Combined, these factors have meant that transnational criminality is now firmly entrenched in every country in Asia.
Anton Moiseienko
This chapter offers an overview of transnational crime emanating from ex-Soviet countries, also commonly known as the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region. It focuses on three types of non-violent, profit-driven crime – corruption, fraud and cybercrime – and outlines typical criminal modi operandi, especially their cross-border dimension. The chapter also sheds light on the dual role of developed states, particularly those in Western Europe and North America, as both victims and unwitting facilitators of such crime, and discusses the attempts of foreign law enforcement agencies to counteract criminal activities that originate in ex-Soviet countries.