TRANSNATIONAL ORGANISED CRIME IN SOUTHEAST ASIA:

THREAT ASSESSMENT

Efforts against transnational organised crime traditionally focus on organised crime groups. While organised crime groups can become problems in themselves, their elimination is unlikely to stop the phenomenon so long as there is demand. A strategy that targets not just organised crime groups but also illicit markets is essential in order to effectively combat transnational organised crime.

Introduction

Transnational organised crime is considered one of the major threats to human security, impeding the social, economic, political and cultural development of societies. Much attention has been given to the dynamics of professional criminal groups but little has been given to the existence of the markets in which they operate. This edition of the NTS Alert argues that a focus on both of these is needed to address the underlying social, political, and economic factors that allow for transnational organised crime to thrive. In order to address the market dimensions of transnational organised crime, this Alert is framed as a ‘threat assessment’. Drawing data from reliable open-source information, it analyses the size and magnitude of high-priority crimes in Southeast Asia.

Transnational Crime: An Overview

The term ‘transnational crime’ was coined by the then United Nations (UN) Crime and Criminal Justice Branch in 1974 in order to identify certain criminal phenomena transcending international boundaries. In order to provide more clarity, the UN in 1994 defines transnational crime as ‘offenses whose inception, prevention and/or direct effect or indirect effects involved more than one country’. Under this definition, a list of 18 crimes were identified: money laundering, illicit drug trafficking, corruption and bribery of public officials and of party officials and elected representatives as defined in national legislation, infiltration of legal business, fraudulent bankruptcy, insurance fraud, computer crime, theft of intellectual property, illicit traffic in arms, terrorist activities, aircraft hijacking, sea piracy, hijacking on land, trafficking in persons, trade in human body parts, theft of art and cultural objects, environmental crime, and other offences committed by organised criminal groups.