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Organized transnational crime likely to expand unless prevented
Experts have warned that transnational crime and public security threats in Asia could increase countriesâ burdens in managing borders, law enforcement and judicial institutions along with accelerated migration flows as results of regional integration development in 2015
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E
xperts have warned that transnational crime and public security threats in Asia could increase countries' burdens in managing borders, law enforcement and judicial institutions along with accelerated migration flows as results of regional integration development in 2015.
They further said that vast investment in transportation systems, lessening of trade barriers and a significantly more coordinated visa system would lead many decision makers at the regional level to underestimate risks that might result from greater integration.
According to the experts, there will be a likely increase in the drug trade and crimes related to people smuggling, migrant trafficking, counterfeit drugs and smuggling as well as environmental crimes such as illegal logging and wildlife trade, unless countries immediately established coordinated national and regional responses, including effective partnerships to prevent transnational crime.
'Organized transnational crimes in Southeast Asia have conservatively reached US$100 billion per year and this threatens the economic and social benefits of the regional integration,' head of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) Regional Office for South-East Asia and the Pacific Jeremy Douglas said at a UNODC high-level meeting in Bangkok, Thailand, on Friday.
'The impact of organized crime in several other regions in Asia is also quite significant and has continued to develop, destabilizing the region,' he went on.
Douglas went on to say that without an effective cross-borders, law enforcement and judicial management strategy, organized crime groups would continue to develop without respecting territorial borders and state sovereignty, threatening public safety and prosperity.
'Such increases in illegal revenues will expand corruption and bring economic damage as well as endanger societies across the region,' he said.
Senior officials from various UN bodies, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), UNODC, the ASEAN Secretariat, legislators from ASEAN member countries, diplomatic missions, government representatives from all Asian countries and the Asia Development Bank (ADB) participated in the meeting, which discussed regional integration plans, transnational crime threats and the ways countries could respond to the threats. (ebf)(+++)
