AZERBAIJAN
Counter Trafficking Law Adopted
IOM Press
A law to fight human trafficking came into effect on 5 August in Azerbaijan after the signing of a presidential decree. Cabinet ministers have now been assigned to prepare and submit proposals on the alignment of national legislation with the new law within next two months.
Counter Trafficking Law Adopted
A law to fight human trafficking came into effect on 5 August in Azerbaijan after the signing of a presidential decree. Cabinet ministers have now been assigned to prepare and submit proposals on the alignment of national legislation with the new law within next two months.
The new counter trafficking law, developed in cooperation with IOM, OSCE and the US Embassy in Baku, is aimed at providing a sound basis for policy, legislative and operational intervention by government and civil society. It will target both traffickers and provide protection for victims and potential victims. It will expand the duties and powers of law enforcers and the judiciary on the documentation of trafficked victims, the prosecution of traffickers and the involvement of trafficked victims in criminal proceedings.
The enactment of the law is a result of a national plan of action on combating human trafficking approved last year and devised between the government, IOM and OSCE. The plan of action took a three-pronged approach to counter trafficking - prevention, prosecution and protection, including the provision of assistance to victims.
Economic hardship and its geographical location make Azerbaijan attractive to criminal networks using the country as both a transit and source for trafficking human beings, particularly women and children for sexual exploitation. Victims are trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Pakistan and India. The overwhelming majority of trafficked victims are between 19-40 years of age and are from rural areas.
Human trafficking from Azerbaijan to Turkey and UAE is now believed to be more widespread and better organised. Between July 2004 and April 2005, 240 victims had been identified, with 106 prosecutions of traffickers taking place.
An IOM study in 2002 that confirmed the existence of human trafficking in the country had recommended a national plan of action and legislation to deal with the issue. The Azerbaijan government in 2003 then signed and ratified the UN Convention on Transnational Organised Crime and its two protocols against smuggling and trafficking.