22 April 2025 • Colombo, Sri Lanka
The rapid expansion of cyber-scam centres across Asia has presented novel and evolving challenges for Sri Lankan government and law enforcement agencies, diplomatic missions, and international organisations. To raise awareness of the scale of cyber-scam centres and trafficking for forced criminality, and in an effort to support more coordinated national and regional responses, Sri Lanka’s National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force (NAHTTF) and the RSO convened a Thematic Dialogue on 22 April 2025 in Colombo to provide greater situational awareness of the growth, operations and significance of trafficking in persons into cyber-scam centres.
The dialogue brought together 140 participants, in-person and online, from over 35 Sri Lankan government agencies, law enforcement agencies, diplomatic missions, international organisations, academia, and counter-trafficking specialists, with Sri Lankan consular officials from across the Asia-Pacific joining online. The dialogue focused on sharing context and insights on current scam-centre operations, alongside emerging good practices for responding through insights from other affected countries in Asia. The dialogue also provided space for Sri Lankan civil society organisations, academics and other responders to network and speak with Sri Lankan policymakers and law enforcement, encouraging coordinated responses.
“This shift from traditional labour and sexual exploitation to cyber-enabled forced criminality signals a dangerous evolution of trafficking networks in modern slavery. These syndicates adapt quickly, harnessing social media algorithms, encrypted communication channels, and AI-powered outreach mechanisms to target and manipulate vulnerable individuals.”
– Major General Ruwan Wanigasooriya, The Chief of National Intelligence and the Head of the Officials Committee of the National Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force of Sri Lanka
“We need to work more effectively across borders and across sectors. It’s often discussed, but to-date international cooperation in response to scam centres continues to follow standard patterns of engagement – by and large – and we believe such an unprecedented challenge requires more. It requires a similarly unprecedented scaling up of international cooperation, be that through policy alignment, information sharing between law enforcement agencies, or through engaging social media companies and banking institutions across the region to take a more proactive role in responding.”
– Lalita Kapur, Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian High Commission in Colombo
The RSO continues to support coordinated responses to trafficking for forced criminality into cyber-scam centres. The thematic dialogue in Sri Lanka demonstrates how convening government officials, law enforcement agencies, diplomatic missions, and international organisations can foster a common understanding of the issue and strengthen both national and regional responses. Drawing from this model of engagement, the RSO welcomes opportunities to support similar coordination initiatives with other affected Member States and will be coordinating further dialogues in the coming months.
