Azernews.Az

The rate of human trafficking crimes is rising in Azerbaijan, amid intense competition among traffickers and more action being taken to crack down on such offenses.

Research has revealed that in January-September 2007, pertinent crimes grew 60.4% to reach 223. Nonetheless, 98.2% of human trafficking-related crimes have been disclosed so far, according to the Interior Ministry.
Chairperson of the Temiz Dunya (Pure World) public association for assistance to women, Mehriban Zeynalova, said traffickers resort to different means of deceiving women in pursuit of their illegal activities.
"Some fall victim of such crimes being promised marriage, while others - jobs in foreign countries. Whereas before Azerbaijani women were sold to Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan, the countries [that they are taken to] currently include European states. Considering that the business brings considerable revenues, staunch competition is under way among human traffickers," Zeynalova said.
She said traffickers have been strengthening the structure of their "business" to operate "more professionally". Just like in legal business, they are now using the expertise of managers, supervisors and advertisers.
Analysts say that women and children often succumb to such crimes due to being poorly informed, which necessitates an expensive public awareness campaign to counter these offenses.