Human trafficking is not only a major human rights crisis, but also an economic storm that undermines wages, governments, and the region’s economic order. No other place on the globe faces this human rights crisis more acutely than the Indo-Pacific, which stretches the Asia-Pacific and coastal East Africa. In 2021, a staggering 29.3 million people were estimated to be living in modern slavery in the Indo-Pacific, accounting for 59% of all individuals enslaved globally. This region’s unique interconnectedness, both political and economic, has allowed trafficking to operate across borders with alarming ease, exploiting weak governance and systemic corruption. Understanding human trafficking in the Indo-Pacific is essential not only for human rights, but also because it profoundly undermines economic and political stability in, and inadvertently, outside of the region.
In recent years, the number of detected trafficking victims has significantly increased. In 2024 alone, it was reported that forced labour generated $236 billion in illicit profits, with $62 billion attributed to the Asia-Pacific and $20 billion to Africa. Labour trafficking distorts economies by suppressing wages, displacing decent jobs, and forcing victims into debt bondage or extreme exploitation.
The billions lost to unpaid wages and diminished productivity expose a glaring failure of governance and economic policy. This is not an unfortunate side effect; it is a systemic crisis. In the Indo-Pacific, these exploitative dynamics fuel massive annual losses that push entire communities into persistent poverty traps. Weak governance, diminished human capital, and broken labour markets do not just hinder growth; they actively suppress whole economies, stunting GDP growth for decades to come. This stark reality undermines the political will and institutional strength of many Indo-Pacific nations, indicating a crisis of leadership that perpetuates economic stagnation and social inequality.
The 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index reveals that while a number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region are improving, its average score is decreasing due to corruption. In their 2024 research, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime stressed that trafficking crimes are inseparable from corruption, signaling the need for effective governance and institutional reforms.
Within the Indo-Pacific, destabilisation in coastal East Africa is deeply linked to foreign meddling in political and economic affairs. This has only amplified existing issues, further undermining sovereignty. Meanwhile, in parts of Asia, corruption is not just a local problem. It is reinforced by muted responses and acceptance from regional neighbours and vague international legislation. This cycle of corruption effectively legitimised by external actors allows trafficking networks to operate largely unchecked.
The rampant corruption and institutional decay that enable trafficking do not just rob victims of their dignity; they siphon billions from legitimate economies, undermining the very foundation of economic stability and development.
Regional Interconnectedness: Scam Centres as a Case Study
Scam centres, also called “pig butchering operations”, are a form of human trafficking on the rise. Victims are lured in with fake job offers, trafficked across borders, and forced into labour to commit online fraud under abusive conditions. Pig butchering operations in Myanmar, Cambodia, and Laos generate at least $64 billion of revenue annually through voice phishing, romance scams, bogus investments, and illegal gambling, just to name a few examples. In smaller economies, such as Cambodia, scam centres may represent over half of the local official GDP, creating dependency on illicit activities which distort broader economic development. Instead of entering the revenue circulation, scam profits are largely reinvested in Southeast Asian scam hubs and illicit markets, such as drug and counterfeit goods trafficking. This reinforces a regional criminal economy deeply intertwined with global networks.
Scam centres in Southeast Asia, epitomised by Cambodia’s pig butchering operations, siphoned $10 billion from Americans in 2024 alone through deceptive crypto platforms. Through these channels, funds vanish into a labyrinth of blockchain mixers, shell entities, financial middlemen, and exchanges, losing traceability. Sanction strikes are rather sporadic. As of October 2025, the United States has implemented sanctions on 146 targets in the Prince Group Transnational Criminal Organisation, a Cambodian-based network that runs pig butchering operations. These sanctions only prevent indirect access to the US financial system. The approach is comparable to using a fly swatter to take down mosquitoes in a swamp.
Cambodia’s elites are linked to the Prince Group. Sihanoukville, a former Cambodian beach resort city, has become a criminal hub due to their complicity. The scam compounds in Sihanoukville are under Special Economic Zone (SEZ) protections that grant tax exemptions, lax labour rules, and raid immunity. Under SEZ protections, forced labour is framed as investment. This revenue constitutes untaxed cash which sustains local rents, power, and elite fronts. This complicity perpetuates the economic crisis by fostering illicit dependency. It strains fiscal budgets from tax revenue necessary for social services. It also wastes resources on ineffective sanctions, and cripples monetary authorities. The billions of laundered dollars drive price volatility and currency exchange rate misalignment. This traps the country in a vicious economic crisis that perpetuates human trafficking. The pig butchering operations have become essential to the local economy, removing incentive to prevent them and risking economic collapse or recession if abruptly dismantled.
Macroeconomic Stability and State Resistance
Illicit profits from human trafficking rarely contribute to the formal economy. This is not just lost revenue; it is a devastating blow to governments’ ability to fund essential public services that communities desperately need. In addition to gravely abusing human rights, forced labour denies the productivity of millions by trapping people in modern slavery or providing wages below the poverty line. Corruption weaves its way through these trafficking and scam networks, eroding rule of law and shattering public trust. It creates a destructive cycle. Weakened governments lack the power to enforce law or protect citizens, which leaves vulnerable groups susceptible to abuse.
Governments complicit or complacent in the shadow economies betray not only their citizens’ rights, but also the future economic prospects of entire communities and nations. Effective action necessitates more than isolated anti-trafficking campaigns with an objective of spreading international awareness. It requires a fundamental overhaul of economic governance and global cooperation to dismantle criminal networks fostering human trafficking. Until the region addresses the issue as both a human rights crisis and an economic emergency, the Indo-Pacific’s path towards just and sustainable prosperity will remain obstructed.
Written by Tierra Sydnor, Edited by Aleksandra Drozd
Photo Credit: Nika Gard (Uploaded July 14, 2024) on Unsplash
