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".

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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