30 July – World Day against Trafficking in Persons

Each year 30 July is marked as the World Day against Trafficking in Persons. To mark this day, IOM Mission in Uzbekistan in cooperation with the IOM Missions in Azerbaijan and Georgia organized the visit of both countries’ delegation composed of relevant government entities and NGOs to Uzbekistan to facilitate partnership between Uzbekistan and these countries on combatting trafficking in persons.

On 28 June – 1 July, the Georgian delegation on countering human trafficking, which included representative from Georgian Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Internal Affairs and other relevant entities visited Uzbekistan. On the first day of the visit, the Georgian delegation was welcomed to a briefing by the IOM office in Tashkent, where the delegates received information on the institutional landscape of the combat of trafficking in persons in Uzbekistan. During the two-day visit, the Georgian delegation was hosted by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs – Sub-Commission on Combatting Trafficking in Persons, and Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations – Sub-Commission on Combatting Forced Labour. Representative of both sides mentioned that the human trafficking corridor from Uzbekistan to Georgia, especially Ajara region has recently increased and both sides underlined that international, cross-border cooperation is required to be able to combat trafficking in persons effectively. At the end of discussions facilitated by IOM, the Uzbek and Georgian side expressed the desire to initiate mutual cooperation on combating trafficking in persons and agreed to formulate concrete steps towards this objective.

The Georgian delegation also visited the Situational Centre under Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Human Trafficking, the “Ishga Marhamat” Monocentre in Tashkent.

On 28 July – 1 August,  the Azerbaijan delegation’s visit to Uzbekistan was organized by IOM Uzbekistan and IOM Azerbaijan. On the first day, the Azerbaijan delegation, which included representatives of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Labour and NGOs on provision of humanitarian assistance to victims of trafficking in persons was welcomed at IOM Tashkent office and introduced the work done by IOM and national stakeholders on combatting human trafficking in Uzbekistan. Followingly, the visits to Ministry of Internal Affairs – Sub-Commission on Combatting Trafficking in Persons, the National Centre on Human Rights and the National Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Human Trafficking. During these meetings, both sides exchanged their experience on combating trafficking in persons as well as identification and referral of victims of trafficking in persons and agreed to continue mutual cooperation in this field.

IOM also arranged special meetings between the Azerbaijan delegation and the key NGOs of Uzbekistan working on provision of humanitarian assistance to victims of trafficking in persons, such as “Barqaror hayot”, “Nihol”, “Oydin-Nur”, and “Istiqbolli Avlod”.