Policies and patterns: State-abetted transnational crime in Cambodia as a global security threat

Link to the program recording here.

Southeast Asia’s transnational cybercriminal industry is perhaps the most significant economic force in the entire Mekong sub-region -- equivalent to 40% or more of the GDP in the primary host countries, according to recent research in 2024 done by UNODC and the US Institute for Peace. At the same time, the syndicates and their opaque transnational linkages are amassing even more dangerous political power. Local elites across the region are implicated neck deep, and in certain contexts, the industry appears “too big to fail”. Such dominance and global reach by a single criminal economy is virtually unprecedented, generating a vast array of stability and security risks and earning its label as “the most powerful criminal network of the modern era”.

This event profiles a new US government-funded study (Policies and Patterns: State-abetted Transnational Crime in Cambodia) that exposes this new global security threat, which is centered in Cambodia. Drawing on scholarly/policy literature, open-source data, and over 50 interviews with experts, journalists, diplomats and survivors, the report explores how Cambodia’s state-crime nexus has incubated the perfect conditions for scam syndicates to emerge and thrive -- and why conventional diplomatic and reform-seeking interventions are failing to stop them.

Following a presentation by study author Jacob Sims, a panel of other leading regional experts will reflect on the implications of this new data on Cambodia, recent regional trends, and the stark implications for concerned governments, multilateral bodies and the private sector.

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Panelists include:

Jacob Sims, visiting fellow, Asia center, Harvard University.

Lindsey Kennedy, research director, Eyewitness Project.

Mark Taylor, former chief of party, counter-trafficking project (Cambodia), Winrock International.

Jason Tower, regional transnational crime expert.

Moderator: Phil Robertson, director, Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, and FCCT board member.