数十万人被贩运到东南亚从事网络诈骗工作
2023年8月29日
联合国人权高专办今天发布的一份报告显示，数十万人正被有组织的犯罪团伙强行卷入东南亚网络犯罪活动——从投资诈骗、加密欺诈到非法赌博。
报告称，受害者面临一系列严重的侵犯和虐待，包括对其安全和保障的威胁，许多人遭受酷刑和残忍、不人道和有辱人格的待遇或处罚、性暴力、强迫劳动和其他侵犯人权的行为。
联合国人权事务高级专员沃尔克·图尔克说：“被迫从事这些诈骗活动的人在被迫犯罪的同时，遭受着不人道的待遇。他们是受害者，他们不是罪犯。”
“在继续呼吁为那些通过网络犯罪被诈骗的人伸张正义的同时，我们不能忘记，这一复杂现象中有两类受害者。”
报告称，由于东南亚的网络诈骗活动具有秘密性，官方采取行动也需要时间，因此很难估计其规模。可靠消息来源表明，缅甸各地至少有12万人可能被迫进行网络诈骗，柬埔寨的估计人数同样在10万左右。该区域其他国家，包括老挝人民民主共和国、菲律宾和泰国，也被确定为主要目的地国或过境国，至少有数万人参与其中。
这些诈骗中心每年的收入高达数十亿美元。
COVID-19大流行及相关应对措施对整个区域的非法活动产生了巨大影响。报告称，公共卫生措施的实施致使许多国家的赌场被关闭，作为回应，赌场运营商将业务转移到监管较少的地区，包括受冲突影响的边境地区和经济特区，以及利润日益丰厚的网络空间。
面对新的业务现状，犯罪分子越来越多地将因边境和企业关闭而滞留在当地且失业的弱势移民作为目标，打着为他们提供实际工作的幌子，招募他们加入犯罪活动。
报告称，尽管被贩运参与网络诈骗活动的受害人中有女性和青少年，但大多数受害人是男性。大多数人不是人口贩运发生国的公民。许多受害者受过良好教育，或从事专业工作，或拥有研究生学位，精通计算机和多种语言。
虽然东南亚的一些国家已经制定了与打击人口贩运相关的法律和政策框架，但在某些情况下，这些框架没有达到国际标准。报告称，在许多情况下，它们的实施未能充分应对这些网络诈骗的背景和复杂性。
报告称，人口贩运和其他侵犯人权行为的受害者被错误地认定为刑事罪犯或移民罪犯，他们不但没有得到保护并获得所需的康复和补救，反而受到刑事起诉或移民处罚。
“所有受影响的国家都需要拿出政治意愿来加强人权，改善治理和法治，包括通过认真和持续的努力来解决腐败问题。这必须成为应对这些骗局的一部分，也是强有力的刑事司法应对措施的一部分”，图尔克说。
“只有采取这种全面的方法，才能打破有罪不罚的恶性循环，确保那些遭受如此可怕虐待的人们得到保护并伸张正义。”
英文原文
Hundreds of thousands trafficked to work as online scammers in SE Asia
29 August 2023
Hundreds of thousands of people are being forcibly engaged by organised criminal gangs into online criminality in Southeast Asia - from investment scams and crypto fraud to illegal gambling - a report issued today by the UN Human Rights Office shows.
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, sexual violence, forced labour, and other human rights abuses, the report says.
“People who are coerced into working in these scamming operations endure inhumane treatment while being forced to carry out crimes. They are victims. They are not criminals,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk.
“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.”
The enormity of online scam trafficking in Southeast Asia is difficult to estimate, the reports says, because of the clandestine nature and gaps in the official response. Credible sources 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 centres generate revenue amounting to billions of US dollars each year.
The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response measures had a drastic impact on illicit activities across the region. Public health measures closed casinos in many countries and in response, casino operators moved operations to less regulated spaces including conflict-affected border areas and Special Economic Zones, as well as to the increasingly lucrative online space, the report says.
Faced with new operational realities, criminal actors increasingly targeted migrants in vulnerable situations – who were stranded in these countries and out of work due to border and business closures – for recruitment into criminal operations, under the pretence of offering them real jobs.
Most people trafficked into the online scam operations are men, although women and adolescents are also among the victims, the report says. Most are not citizens of the countries in which the trafficking occurs. Many of the victims are well-educated, sometimes coming from professional jobs or with graduate or even post-graduate degrees, computer-literate and multi-lingual.
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, the report says.
Victims of trafficking and other human rights abuse are erroneously identified as criminals or as immigration offenders and, rather than being protected and given access to the rehabilitation and remedy they need, they are subjected to criminal prosecution or immigration penalties, it says.
“All affected States need to summon the political will to strengthen human rights and improve governance and the rule of law, including through serious and sustained efforts to tackle corruption. This must be as much a part of the response to these scams as a robust criminal justice response,” said Türk.
“Only such a holistic approach can break the cycle of impunity and ensure protection and justice for the people who have been so horrifically abused.”
翻译｜邱 雯
一审｜于欣洋
二审｜陈蓝翔
三审｜程 能
资料来源｜联合国人权高专办官网
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