Workplace violence is a serious safety and health issue confronting firms operating anywhere in the world, with the International Labor Organization (ILO) warning that workplace violence is increasing at alarming rates worldwide. The financial downturn in the West and rapidly changing socioeconomic patterns in developing countries is likely to aggravate the risk posed by violence in the workplace. ...more

Government statistics reveal that there are at least 90 express kidnappings in Mexico City each day, a statistic that is believed to be far below actual numbers, as the majority are believed to go unreported. Throughout Latin America, express kidnappings or quicknappings, a kidnapping in which a victim is abducted for a brief period of time and released following the payment of a small ransom, have emerged as one of the most common crimes in recent years. The lack of significant reporting and investigating of express kidnappings, paired with the ease with which quicknapping can be carried out, without significant infrastructure or planning has led to a surge in the crime throughout the region. ...more

The first decade of the 21st century has seen an increasingly blurred division between organized crime groups and politically-motivated militant networks engaged in terrorism campaigns or insurgencies targeting status quo powers. While the divisions were clear in the waning years of the 20th century, when the two groups comingled rarely, perhaps only for the exchange of weapons for cash, militant networks have increasingly established independent organized crime syndicates or merged with pre-existing networks to improve their operational capabilities. ...more

Globalization may have benefited transnational crime networks more than legitimate businesses, which must obey the laws and regulations of their domestic and host countries. Organized crime groups, meanwhile, can use globalization's growing transportation and telecommunication capabilities to operate across different legal codes, benefiting from weak transnational law enforcement. Today's transnational organized crime syndicates can smuggle drugs into one country, launder funds in another, and see its leadership flee prosecution by moving to separate jurisdictions. Transnational organized crime is a serious problem in the Asia-Pacific region, where it undermines efforts to police points of entry, corrupts local politics, and weakens the rule of law. ...more

Southeast Asia is an increasingly attractive business and tourism destination for foreign nationals attracted to the area's growth potential, rising economies, and natural and cultural diversity. Expatriates; however, may be exposed to kidnapping and extortion threats while traveling through the region. ...more