A
National Plan of Action against Trafficking in Persons
On September 30, 2005, the Centre for Strategic Studies of the
government of the Republic of Tajikistan, representing the state, and
non-governmental and international organizations met for a roundtable on issues
related to trafficking in persons. The round table was organized by the European
Commission in Tajikistan and the Nongovernmental organization “MODAR” under the
thematic heading: “Developing a national plan of action against trafficking”.
DECLARATION
STATEMENT
ROUND
TABLE ON TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS – TAJIKISTAN
September
30, 2005
We,
the participants in the round table on trafficking in persons, note that
trafficking in persons is a severe and cynical activity of organized crime,
directed against the human being, and that it is increasing intensively and
reaches threatening size. According to the OSCE, 4 million persons become
victims of trafficking every year. This brings criminal syndicates 7 billion US
dollars of yearly illegal profit, which places trafficking in persons in the
same league as trade in narcotics or weapons, and makes it a component part of
transnational organized crime, and, according to some sources, funds terrorist
organizations.
From
the beginning of the 1970s, according to data from the International
Organization for Migration (IOM), about 30 million persons have become victims
of human trafficking: only to the US eighteen to twenty thousand women and girls
are estimated to be brought yearly from different parts of the world. The
increase in quantity of persons being trafficked, especially women and children,
is one of the most dangerous tendencies of today.
There
is a lack of precise and reliable statistics on the extent of trafficking in
persons, partly because the majority of those who are sold are never defined as
such by the authorities, and partly because through threats, the traffickers
usually prevent the victims of trafficking and of exploitation from turning to
the official authorities for help.
In
2002, Tajikistan signed the United Nations Convention against Transnational
Organized Crime, as well as its Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish
Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, and Protocol against the
Smuggling of Migrants by Land, Sea and Air. The signing of these conventions
contributed to focus attention from a number of public bodies to the problem of
human trafficking.
During
the 2003 session of the Tajik government’s Commission to Guarantee the
Fulfillment of International Obligations in the Human Rights Area, a permanent
governmental working group was formed in order to study the problems connected
with trafficking in persons and its prevention.
Furthermore,
a number of integrated measures in this direction, based on the principle of
joint activity of public bodies and NGOs, are regulated by the state program
“Basic directions of state policy with respect to the guarantee of equal rights
and possibilities of men and women in the republic Tajikistan 2001-2010”. The
measures for improvement of the legislation are supported at the state level. In
this context, an additional article 130/1 has been developed and accepted by the
Tajik parliament. The “Trafficking in Persons” unit, which is directly
responsible for trafficking issues at the Tajik parliament, accepted, on 5 July
2004, the new law “On the fight against trafficking in persons”, which
determines the legal and organizational base of the fight against trafficking in
persons in the Republic of Tajikistan as well as the legal position of the
victims of trafficking. In the department for Fighting Organized Crime at the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tajikistan, a specialized
subdivision for combating trafficking in persons has been
created.
We perceive a danger for the development of
lawful social state and democratic civic community
because:
-
An
insufficiently active opposition to trafficking in persons, to criminal,
sexual and labour exploitation of persons, and hence to the spread of violence
and to the violation of human rights; -
The
imperfection and incompleteness of the legislative regulations of
counteracting trafficking and of the protection of victims; -
Treatment
of victims of trafficking as illegal immigrant or criminals, which places them
in a vulnerable position where they lack legal defense; -
Examination
of cases of trafficking in persons is done in the context of illegal
immigration, a fact which hampers the identification of criminal punishable
acts, such as trafficking in persons; -
The
ineffectiveness of migratory legislation and of the limited legal
possibilities for work migration to and from the country, lead to
marginalization of migrants and mass violations of their rights; -
There is
an increase in organized prostitution and increasing involvement of minors and
of young adults in prostitution; -
There is
a lack of favourable conditions for the development of non-government
organizations, and of real mechanism of financial support for them from the
state, owners and citizens; -
The
limited economic possibilities for women and for other risk groups, the
current status of the Tajik services of employment, and the women’s modest
claims for wages and careers, as well as the very lack of working
opportunities and the extremely low wages, often lower than the survival
minimum, force women to consciously take the risk of working for different
agencies;
We
consider inadmissible:
the
passiveness, indifference and political unwillingness of the world community to
solve the problems indicated.
We consider that
bringing
the national legislation into correspondence with international and regional
human rights standards, and in order to effectively combat the criminal practice
of trafficking, it is necessary, as soon as possible:
– to ratify the international documents
which acknowledge trafficking in persons as a human rights
crime:
·
The Hague
Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (Hague,
October, 25, 1980);
·
The
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of
children, child prostitution and
child pornography (New York, May, 25, 2000);
–
to assume effective migratory
legislation and to create possibilities for Tajik citizens to make legal and
informed choices about work migration;
– to include a special course on
trafficking in the curriculum of training, and retraining, of the personnel of
these agencies, whose professional activity is connected with different aspects
of the work to combat and prevent trafficking;
–
to introduce the theme “criminal exploitation and trafficking in persons” into
the program of secondary, average specialized and higher
education.
We
are assured that
the
building of a civil society is possible only under conditions of real social
partnership between the authorities and the non-government organizations that
represent specific societal groups. Such conditions are:
-
the
introduction (at all levels) of state economic and institutional mechanisms to
support noncommercial associations (through social regulations, social grants,
advantageous taxation and so forth);
-
assistance
for the developing of socially critical business, creation of conditions for
owners and owners of capital to support non-governmental organizations,
development of partnerships between them (development of patronage and
philanthropy through the system of the stimulating taxation).
We
focus the attention of :
state
bodies and the local governments, all political and public organizations and
movements, professional and creative unions, media, workers of science, culture,
formation, and the capital owners
on
the need for:
1.
Common efforts by state authorities, law-enforcement agencies and
non-governmental development organizations to take action for combating
trafficking.
2. Criminalization
of all acts covering various forms of trafficking, using Tajik criminal
legislation, as well as the Tajik law “on the fight against trafficking in
persons”.
3.
Reviewing the current legislation for the purpose of introducing the necessary
changes and additions, to ensure timely fighting with organized
crime.
4.
The adoption of a system of measurement, to ensure state control and accurate
statistics on migration, especially from abroad.
5.
State support of programs, realized by non-government organizations, directed
towards an increase in the information to communities and risk groups about the
problem of trafficking, aid to victims and a solution to the problem as a
whole;
Participants in the round table
September,
30, 2005
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