ASEAN addressing proliferation of scam hubs —Sec Gen Kao

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been addressing the proliferation of scam hubs in the region, ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn said Thursday.

During the 9th ASEAN Media Forum, Kao said they “have been working on this for some time already.”

 "Perhaps what we need to do is to communicate more what we have been doing," he added when asked for his reaction to the recent call from the ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights for the regional bloc to prioritize the dismantling of scam hubs.

In July, the Inter-agency Council Against Trafficking from the Philippines urged the Southeast Asian countries to do more to combat the rise of trafficking of individuals who are recruited illegally to work in scam farms and enhance a regional exchange of information to effectively address the problem

Traffickers in the past few years have exploited Filipinos and other nationals in forced labor in so-called online scam operations that have expanded mainly in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

In October, more than 200 Filipinos who were recruited to work in various scam farms in Myanmar have sought the Philippine government's assistance for repatriation

Kao said they have set up a number of mechanisms at the ASEAN level such as the establishment of a working group to address the problem and the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crimes.

"We had a lot of discussions on what we can consider to be the top priorities to address threats to the ASEAN security. We rank them, we assess them. All the threats from trafficking and drugs, trafficking of persons to online scams. So these are the range of issues that we're looking at inclusively, not just a particular strand," he said.

He further said that he understands the concern of the international community "but this is a global issue. It's not just a regional issue, a national issue, or a local issue."

"It's a global issue that requires greater collaboration and cooperation involving different stakeholders, agencies. This is not just the law enforcement sector but go way beyond that," said Kao.

He also noted the recent establishment of the ASEAN prosecutors and attorney generals.

"They will be working together. This is something quite new...So I would just say, yes, this is something that we're working on very closely across states for greater sharing of information and intelligence, the collaboration among law enforcers, sectors and others," the ASEAN secretary general said. —RF, GMA Integrated News