The conference was co-chaired by Lieutenant General, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dong Dai Loc, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Police, Deputy Head of Theoretical Subcommittee on Social Order and Safety - MPS; Major General, Prof. Dr. Ho Trong Ngu, Vice President of PPA. Attending the Conference were representatives for leaders of the Criminal Police Department, the High-Tech Crime Prevention Police Department, the Police Advisory Department; Anti-Drug Related-Crime Police Department, Legal Affairs and Administrative Reform Department - MPS; Scientists from the People's Security Academy, Vietnam National University; Hanoi Law University and a large number of scientists, practical officers inside and outside the Public Security force, etc.

In the context of international integration and the establishment of ASEAN Community, transnational organized crime, with complicated developments, has caused serious consequences in many aspects to all countries. According to recent estimates by United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), transactions from illegal activities across the East Asia and Pacific region are worth more than 100 billion USD per year, which is higher than the total GDP of the three countries of Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Moreover, Southeast Asia is known as a transshipment hub of human trafficking to Australia and New Zealand due to immigration management system weaknesses. Thus, it is clear that transnational crime has become a serious threat to regional security, endanger the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).

Lieutenant General, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dong Dai Loc, Deputy Director General 

of General Department of Police had a speech to direct content 

of the conference

The openness of immigration and import and export management due to globalization, has created certain advantages to expand international integration and develop the economy, culture, society... and also good conditions for crime activities. According to UNODC, the reduction of inspection stations at the border and infrastructure improvements has caused the increase and complicated developments of many types of transnational organized crime, such as: drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, smuggling, illegal laboring... On illegal logging, an estimation of 30% - 40% of timber exported from Southeast Asia is from the illegal exploitation. Sea freight is also a very simple way to transport illegal metals and pharmaceuticals. UN reports indicate that each year, there are more than 500 million containers are shipped in the region, but only 2% of them are being checked.

In Vietnam, in recent years, there has been a serious increase in the number, scale and nature of transnational organized crime in Vietnam. According to official statistics of the Ministry of Public Security (MPS) in the past ten years, 1,260 cases of transnational organized crime have been investigated, 2,041 offenders were charged for criminal offences, 692 of which have foreign nationalities. Transnational organized crime in Vietnam has been identified as: offenses against national security, human trafficking, drug-related crime, counterfeiting currency, counterfeit goods trafficking, property crime, cybercrime, gambling, prostitution, etc. In order to detect and investigate transnational organized crime in Vietnam, the Vietnamese Police has created direct cooperation with counterparts internationally through international organization such as Interpol and ASEANAPOL, which consequently detect hundreds criminal cases and suspects.

Due to the complication and unpredictability of transnational organized crime in Vietnam, to prevent these types of crime efficiently in the new era, marked by the establishment of the ASEAN Community, it is an urgent requirement to review, evaluate and forecast the crime trends theoretically and practically; thus, PPA in cooperation with the Theoretical Subcommittee on Social Order and Safety, MPS’s Theoretical Council held the Scientific Conference.

Major General, Prof. Dr. Ho Trong Ngu, Vice president of PPA

 spoke at the Conference

The Conference received nearly 50 articles from the leaders of the Ministry, the General Department of Police, scientists, experts and practical officers inside and outside the Public Security branch. These are precious ideas with profound value in improving the system of theoretical and practical summaries on preventing transnational organized crime in the establishment of the ASEAN Community

At the Conference, the delegates focused on discussing and evaluating the general situation of transnational organized crime in the ASEAN community and in Vietnam; analyzing characteristics of transnational organized crime in the ASEAN community, effects and prevention activities in Vietnam; summarizing and evaluating the advantages, difficulties and sharing experiences in leading and directing implementation of measures to control transnational organized crime in cooperation relationship with ASEAN countries, providing scientific forecasts on trends of crime situation in the ASEAN community in the coming time, and proposing solutions to improve effectiveness of preventing transnational organized crime in the establishment of the ASEAN Community.

Accordingly, the delegates proposed, in the coming time should establish specialized forces on transnational organized crime prevention with strong scale both in quantity and quality in the MPS and the Public Security Departments of the provinces and cities; soon deploy the network of liaison officers of the Vietnamese police in abroad to make bridge in international coordination between the Vietnamese police and foreign police in implementation of agreements, protocols and international conventions which Vietnam participates.

Participants attended the workshop

In addition, the legal framework for prevention and control of transnational organized crime in Vietnam should be improved, should research to issue Law on Traditional Organized Crime Prevention, Law on Witnesses Protection, issue a joint circular to guide application of preventive measures for the wanted releasing by INTERPOL to create legal basis for the authority to perform their task. The Vietnamese police force and law enforcement forces should actively participate in the process of expanding bilateral and multilateral relations within the ASEAN Community and in the world, focusing on prevention, combating transnational organized crimes such as exchanging information on crimes, exchanging experiences among countries, cooperating in mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, extradition, cooperation in training skills and knowledge of law on transnational organized crime control, exchanging of liaison officers, transferring means and technologies on crime control, etc.

The conference’s outcome will contribute to completing the knowledge in combating and preventing transnational organized crime in the establishment of ASEAN; raising the awareness and professional skills and moral qualities of the practical staff; as well as recommending to complete the policy on combating and preventing transnational crime in the near future; improving the efficiency of investigating transnational organized crime.

Translated by XT