Disputes - international:
area claimed by French Guiana between Riviere Litani and Riviere Marouini (both headwaters of the Lawa); Suriname claims a triangle of land between the New and Kutari/Koetari rivers in a historic dispute over the headwaters of the Courantyne; Guyana seeks United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea arbitration to resolve the longstanding dispute with Suriname over the axis of the territorial sea boundary in potentially oil-rich waters

Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Suriname is a source and destination country for women, men, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; women and girls from Suriname, Guyana, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic are subjected to sex trafficking in the country, sometimes in interior mining camps; Surinamese women and girls are also sexually exploited in French Guiana; migrant workers in agriculture and on fishing boats and children working in informal urban sectors and gold mines are vulnerable to forced labor
tier rating: Tier 2 Watch List – Suriname does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so; the government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute a significant effort toward meeting the minimum standards for eliminating human trafficking; in 2013, the government prosecuted an increased number of sex trafficking cases but decreased investigations and prosecutions of sex trafficking offenders; authorities failed to investigate, prosecute, or convict labor traffickers; fewer sex trafficking and no forced labor victims were identified; protective services for victims were inadequate, but plans to open a government-run shelter for women and child victims were initiated in 2014; a national strategy to combat human trafficking was also adopted in 2014 (2014)

Illicit drugs:
growing transshipment point for South American drugs destined for Europe via the Netherlands and Brazil; transshipment point for arms-for-drugs dealing