Human Trafficking
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Illicit Activity
North Korea’s shadow economy fueled by illicit activities
U.S. Army 8th Theater Sustainment Command, National Security Law Team The international community imposed crippling sanctions on North Korea in 2006 after it conducted its first nuclear arms test. The sanctions, which remain in place, target traditional exports such as minerals and textiles. Combined with North Korea’s limited economy and lack of trading partners, the sanctions leave dictator Kim Jong…
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Illicit Activity
Southeast Asian nations target security risk posed by scam centers
Peter Parson Southeast Asian nations are cracking down on scam centers, a global criminal enterprise committing hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud annually while abusing human rights and threatening regional security. Authorities in Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand are disrupting the syndicates, arresting offenders and freeing captive workers. Recent efforts have targeted Myanmar’s southeastern Myawaddy region, where scam…
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Illicit Activity
China’s fishing fleet used North Korean forced labor, potentially violating U.N. sanctions, report says
FORUM Staff A fleet of Chinese-flagged, long-distance fishing vessels relied for years on forced labor from North Korea to crew its ships in the Indian Ocean, potentially violating international economic sanctions against the Pyongyang regime, according to a new report. The London-based Environmental Justice Foundation interviewed 19 crew members from Indonesia and the Philippines who worked with the North Koreans.…
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Partnerships
Japan-Philippines partnership deepens with police equipment grant
Maria T. Reyes Japan enhanced its strategic partnership with the Philippines in late November 2024 with an equipment grant to the Philippine National Police (PNP) for countering drug and human trafficking in the Indo-Pacific. The grant “cements our shared commitment and deeper understanding about our role as peacekeepers and agents of truth and justice,” according to PNP Forensic Group Director…
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Illicit Activity
Vietnam improves in human trafficking fight
Radio Free Asia For the second year in a row, Vietnam’s ranking improved in the United States’ annual Trafficking in Persons report, and the country is no longer considered among Asia’s worst for human trafficking, a list that includes the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Cambodia, Myanmar and North Korea. The June 2024 report from the U.S. State Department focuses…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Report: PRC fishing vessels top abusers of forced labor
FORUM Staff The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is the leading abuser of forced labor on fishing vessels globally, according to a new study. The report, “Dark webs: Uncovering those behind forced labour on commercial fishing fleets,” by the Washington, D.C.-based Financial Transparency Coalition, focused on vessels operating either on the high seas or inside another nation’s 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic…
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