|
Tajikistan: National conference on human trafficking opens in Dushanbe
May 4, 2004
Dushanbe - A national conference on human trafficking opened in the Tajik
capital, Dushanbe, on Tuesday, the first of its kind in the mountainous Central
Asian state.
"Over half a million Tajiks regularly leave the country to seek work abroad and
the risk of being trafficked is increasing with alarming rates," Nigina
Mamadjanova, counter trafficking focal point for the International Organization
for Migration (IOM) office in Tajikistan told IRIN.
Although generally targeting women to work in the sex industry in Turkey,
Kazakhstan, Russia and the Gulf states, many Tajik men have also fallen victim
to traffickers in the form of forced labour, she maintained.
Organised by the IOM, in cooperation with the Tajik government, the two-day
event brings together a host of participants and experts, including
representatives from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and the US, as well as
NGOs and other international organisations working on the protection of
migrants' rights.
While there are no exact figures on the number of people being trafficked, the
issue remains a source of concern for the government and NGOs on the ground
given the number of Tajik migrants leaving the country through illegal means.
According to Mamadjanova, the main goal of the conference is to raise the level
of awareness. "Only through an information campaign can the population receive
the necessary information it needs about the dangers of trafficking," the IOM
official said, noting a mechanism of reintegration and assistance for the
victims of trafficking needed to be developed - including psychological
rehabilitation.
In an effort to raise such awareness, Internews, an international non-profit
group supporting open media worldwide, has been working closely with the IOM
training media professionals on how to produce social advertisements for radio
and TV spots. "These spots are now broadcast regularly by 14 independent TV
stations in Tajikistan, and also by three independent radio stations," Franz
Wennberg, country director for the NGO told IRIN in Dushanbe, noting that the
public announcements also included phone numbers to hot lines where additional
information could be sought.
"One of the problems for many Tajiks is how little they are informed about what
awaits them in Russia [the primary destination for Tajik labour migrants], and
also about their legal rights and obligations," Wennberg explained. "This lack
of knowledge obviously makes it easier for corrupt state officials and criminal
structures to harass and exploit Tajik labour migrants," he added, noting the
information campaigns by Internews and the IOM were working to mitigate that.
But despite the challenge, over the past three years Tajikistan has made strong
inroads in combating the global problem, Mamadjanova maintained. The
impoverished former Soviet republic was the first country among the CIS
(Commonwealth of Independent States) countries to sign the UN Convention
against Transnational Organised Crime and two additional protocols and ratified
on 29 May 2002. Subsequently, Tajikistan prepared draft legislation on the
trafficking in persons which was now in its last stage of consideration.
According to one IOM report, over 700,000 women and children are trafficked
across borders each year worldwide. CIS countries are becoming the most
important geographical source of trafficking in women in Asia, with the Central
Asian states of Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan
being no exception.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, economic hardship and
widespread unemployment, made the desire to emigrate abroad even stronger,
providing a more conducive environment for traffickers to recruit, cheat, abuse
and exploit their victims.
Copyright 1999-2004, AsianSexGazette.com. All rights reserved. No
content may be reproduced in whole or part without written permission.
Please contact us via the link below for re-print and syndication policies.
|
|
Tajikistan:
Human Trafficking A Growing Concern
4-22-2004
Tajik
migrant workers bring back money, gifts and AIDS from Russia
12-14-2003
Human
trafficking and prostitution rife in Tajikstan
7-11-2003
|
