Da Nang (VNA) – The 2026 Plenary Meeting of the Southeast Asia Justice Network (SEAJust) opened in the central city of Da Nang on August 25, bringing together representatives from 22 member countries, justice networks and international partners to strengthen cooperation in combating increasingly complex forms of transnational organised crime.
The three-day meeting was jointly organised by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Supreme People’s Procuracy of Vietnam, with financial support from the Government of the Republic of Korea.
Addressing the opening, Vice-President of the Supreme People’s Procuracy Nguyen Quang Dung said transnational crime has become increasingly complex in recent years, with more sophisticated methods and an expanding operational reach.
Technological advances and digital transformation are being exploited by criminals to commit cross-border offences, including organised crime, cybercrime, drug trafficking, money laundering, human trafficking and transnational fraud, he said.
Dung emphasised that no country can tackle cross-border challenges on its own, urging stronger information sharing, better coordination in investigation, prosecution, and adjudication, as well as more effective mutual legal assistance in criminal cases.
He noted that requests for mutual legal assistance in criminal matters are increasing in both volume and complexity. They now involve not only serving documents, taking statements and gathering evidence, but also electronic evidence and digital data, as well as tracing and recovering criminal assets and financial flows. This requires countries to renew their cooperation methods and mechanisms to ensure mutual legal assistance is delivered more quickly, substantively and effectively, he said.
Delphine Schantz, UNODC Regional Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, highlighted the rapidly changing nature of organised crime in Southeast Asia and the urgent need for stronger cross-border cooperation.
According to UNODC’s latest assessment of transnational organised crime threats in Southeast Asia, criminal networks are becoming increasingly interconnected across countries and illicit markets. Cyber-enabled fraud, human trafficking, money laundering, online gambling and other crimes are linked through shared infrastructure, technology and financial channels.
Fraud alone caused estimated losses of between 88.3 billion USD and 114.1 billion USD in East and Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand in 2025. Human trafficking for forced criminal activities is also becoming increasingly global, with victims and people forced into such operations identified from at least 80 countries and territories at scam centres across the region.
Schantz said that as criminal networks become more connected, responses must be interconnected accordingly. Cross-border evidence gathering, tracing and recovery of criminal assets, identification and arrest of suspects, and assistance in criminal proceedings are essential to bringing transnational criminals to justice.
According to UNODC, since its establishment in 2020, SEAJust has facilitated cooperation in more than 300 cases involving mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and extradition, including over 125 cases handled in 2025 alone. From eight founding members, the network has expanded to 24 members across more than four continents. Canada and Kazakhstan joined as new members at this year’s plenary meeting.
Participants exchanged developments in international criminal cooperation law, Kazakhstan’s mutual legal assistance system, and ASEAN initiatives, including the ASEAN Treaty on Extradition. They also updated each other on activities of partner networks, including the European Judicial Network (EJN), Eurojust, GlobE and ARIN-AP.
The 2026 SEAJust Plenary Meeting reaffirms the shared commitment to strengthening criminal justice cooperation in response to increasingly interconnected and cross-border organised crime, contributing to regional security, justice and sustainable development./.
