Resident Coordinator's Remarks at Border Management in Southeast Asia – Turning ASEAN Regional Policy into Law Enforcement Action

I am honored to be in Vienna for the dialogue on border management in Southeast Asia, which requires high-impact solutions and increased regional collaboration to address the challenges.  

Let me warmly greet representatives from Cambodia, Thailand, Lao PDR Vietnam, and colleagues from UNODC.  

Thailand and the region have emerged as a major hub for trafficking in persons, narcotics, and wildlife, generating over $100 billion annually.

Organized crime groups are exploiting land crossings and sea routes, necessitating comprehensive solutions cutting across nations in the region.   

As a result, modernizing border management, control and security by standardizing policies and operations while increasing regional connectivity is a top priority for ASEAN and is essential for the acceleration of SDGs. 

Thailand’s leadership has been critical to this process and to the development and adoption of the ASEAN Border Management Cooperation Roadmap. We will hear more on this from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

As the lead agency, UNODC is bringing its broad range of expertise to support the Government in implementing high-impact initiatives by leveraging technologies, engaging communities, and empowering women.

Let me highlight 4 of these.

One, UNODC has supported the establishment of over 120 border liaison offices in Thailand, Lao PDR, Cambodia, Vietnam, and other nations.

These offices play a key role in sharing real-time intelligence on the operations of transnational crime groups, coordinating with law enforcement, and strengthening cooperation between frontline agencies.

Such strategic cross-border collaboration is critical in the current geopolitical context as it brings a whole-of-government approach to counter trafficking.

Importantly, this concept is transferable to other regions through the sharing of best practices and lessons learned.

Two, UNODC is undertaking cutting-edge research to deepen understanding of the hidden dynamics of organized crime, trafficking, and irregular crossings across Southeast Asia.

As part of this, UNODC has partnered with UN Volunteers to deploy more than 50 young local professionals in remote border villages to develop a bottom-up perspective on these dynamics.

We have learned that the primary drivers of trafficking are dependent on country contexts, requiring targeted interventions with no one-size-fits-all solution.

In Thailand, the reasons are primarily economic with a lack of job opportunities causing many young people in border communities to engage in low-value trafficking as a source of income.

As a result, UNDOC is supporting a shift to community policing to prioritize closer proactive collaborations between local communities and law enforcement for intelligence gathering and reducing crime across border villages in Thailand. This approach also empowers women and young people to work alongside the security apparatus.

Three, UNODC, together with UNAIDS, is informing policies on the narcotics code in Thailand to enhance the effectiveness of treatment and rehabilitation for drug users.

An increase in drug trafficking has led to an increase in drug availability, which translates into more users, especially among the young and vulnerable.

This will facilitate a transition from compulsory drug treatment and rehabilitation to voluntary community-based approaches with support from social welfare agencies and the legal system.

Analysis tells us that forced detoxification has many negative consequences and fails to address the root causes of drug dependence.

Four, UNODC has also placed gender equality at its core.

Boosting women’s participation in border control management will be critical, particularly as 65% of trafficked persons are women.

This is especially so in Southeast Asia where women officers account for 6% to 20% in law enforcement in a predominantly male-dominated field. 

Structural barriers persist in preventing women from graduating to leadership positions and in border areas inadequate gender-inclusive facilities serve as additional deterrents.

This means the Government is underleveraging the power of women to contribute more effectively to border management and community outreach.

UNODC is also promoting women’s active participation in maritime law enforcement while ensuring gender-equal opportunities.

Female officers are trained to enhance their skills, including in Maritime Domain Awareness technology, while research by UNODC is informing policies to improve their working conditions on board vessels.

These policy instruments and operational mechanisms have strengthened Thailand’s leading role in border management practices.

The ASEAN Border Management Cooperation Roadmap will enable countries across the region to replicate these high-impact initiatives, which will also feed into the broader global governance conversation.

The UN stands ready to continue making borders more secure and the world safer from trafficking and crime.

Thank you.