OHCHR / SOUTHEAST ASIA WORK SCAM OPERATIONS
29-Aug-2023
00:02:53
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said that the enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response. UNTV CH
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STORY: OHCHR / SOUTHEAST ASIA WORK SCAM OPERATIONS
TRT: 02:53
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 AUGUST 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
TRT: 02:53
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 29 AUGUST 2023 GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
SHOTLIST
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
29 AUGUST 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses.”
4. Med shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases, they fall short of international standards. In many cases, their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams.”
6. Med shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“They are victims. They are not criminals. In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims,”
8. Med shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights, Asia Pacific, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“One of the main ones that we hear about is the so-called ‘pig butchering scheme’ where the targets of the scam are approached in a romance kind of scam and basically scammed out of their money, thinking that they are speaking to somebody who is interested to be romantically involved with them. And in fact, last year, we learned about the tragic death of a person from Malaysia who had traveled into Thailand and then been trafficked into Myanmar thinking that she was responding to the advances of somebody.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights, Asia Pacific, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“But because of the stigma of having been scammed, they will not be reporting this. They'd rather kind of not suffer that shame and stigma of having been the victim of a scam. And in the same vein, people that have been trafficked into these scam compounds suffer not just physical abuse and mental abuse but financial ruin in many cases because they have taken on debts and then to release themselves from these scam compounds to take on more debt. But they also take on stigma and shame, particularly, as we said, because of the profile of these people. They're not uneducated.”
12. Wide shot, briefing room
1. Wide shot, exterior, Palais des Nations
29 AUGUST 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, briefing room
3. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses.”
4. Med shot, briefing room
5. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases, they fall short of international standards. In many cases, their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams.”
6. Med shot, briefing room
7. SOUNDBITE (English), Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“They are victims. They are not criminals. In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims,”
8. Med shot, briefing room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights, Asia Pacific, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“One of the main ones that we hear about is the so-called ‘pig butchering scheme’ where the targets of the scam are approached in a romance kind of scam and basically scammed out of their money, thinking that they are speaking to somebody who is interested to be romantically involved with them. And in fact, last year, we learned about the tragic death of a person from Malaysia who had traveled into Thailand and then been trafficked into Myanmar thinking that she was responding to the advances of somebody.”
10. Wide shot, briefing room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights, Asia Pacific, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):
“But because of the stigma of having been scammed, they will not be reporting this. They'd rather kind of not suffer that shame and stigma of having been the victim of a scam. And in the same vein, people that have been trafficked into these scam compounds suffer not just physical abuse and mental abuse but financial ruin in many cases because they have taken on debts and then to release themselves from these scam compounds to take on more debt. But they also take on stigma and shame, particularly, as we said, because of the profile of these people. They're not uneducated.”
12. Wide shot, briefing room
STORYLINE
UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Jeremy Laurence said that the enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response.
“Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses,” said Laurence.
He also said that the enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response.
The report cites credible sources that indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000.
Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved.
The scam centers generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.
The report says that most people trafficked into online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims.
Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs.
Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.
“While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases, they fall short of international standards. In many cases, their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams,” Laurence said.
The people coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to commit crimes.
“They are victims. They are not criminals. In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims,” Laurence stressed.
Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights (OHCHR), who authored the report, detailed some scams.
“One of the main ones that we hear about is the so-called ‘pig butchering scheme’ where the targets of the scam are approached in a romance kind of scam and basically scammed out of their money, thinking that they are speaking to somebody who is interested to be romantically involved with them. And in fact, last year, we learned about the tragic death of a person from Malaysia who had traveled into Thailand and then been trafficked into Myanmar thinking that she was thinking that she was responding to the advances of somebody,” she said.
Oberoi continued: “But because of the stigma of having been scammed, they will not be reporting this. They'd rather kind of not suffer that shame and stigma of having been the victim of a scam. And in the same vein, people that have been trafficked into these scam compounds suffer not just physical abuse and mental abuse but financial ruin in many cases because they have taken on debts and then to release themselves from these scam compounds to take on more debt. But they also take on stigma and shame, particularly, as we said, because of the profile of these people. They're not uneducated.”
“Victims face a range of serious violations and abuses, including threats to their safety and security; and many have been subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment, arbitrary detention, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses,” said Laurence.
He also said that the enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response.
The report cites credible sources that indicate that at least 120,000 people across Myanmar may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams, with estimates in Cambodia similarly at around 100,000.
Other States in the region, including Lao PDR, the Philippines, and Thailand, have also been identified as main countries of destination or transit where at least tens of thousands of people have been involved.
The scam centers generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.
The report says that most people trafficked into online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims.
Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs.
Victims come from across the ASEAN region (from Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam), mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, South Asia, and even further afield from Africa and Latin America.
“While some countries in Southeast Asia have put in place legal and policy frameworks relevant to counter trafficking, in some cases, they fall short of international standards. In many cases, their implementation has failed to respond adequately to the context and sophistication of these online scams,” Laurence said.
The people coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to commit crimes.
“They are victims. They are not criminals. In continuing to call for justice for those who have been defrauded through online criminality, we must not forget that this complex phenomenon has two sets of victims,” Laurence stressed.
Pia Oberoi, Senior Advisor on Migration and Human Rights (OHCHR), who authored the report, detailed some scams.
“One of the main ones that we hear about is the so-called ‘pig butchering scheme’ where the targets of the scam are approached in a romance kind of scam and basically scammed out of their money, thinking that they are speaking to somebody who is interested to be romantically involved with them. And in fact, last year, we learned about the tragic death of a person from Malaysia who had traveled into Thailand and then been trafficked into Myanmar thinking that she was thinking that she was responding to the advances of somebody,” she said.
Oberoi continued: “But because of the stigma of having been scammed, they will not be reporting this. They'd rather kind of not suffer that shame and stigma of having been the victim of a scam. And in the same vein, people that have been trafficked into these scam compounds suffer not just physical abuse and mental abuse but financial ruin in many cases because they have taken on debts and then to release themselves from these scam compounds to take on more debt. But they also take on stigma and shame, particularly, as we said, because of the profile of these people. They're not uneducated.”
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