Azernews.Az

The government of Azerbaijan made efforts to protect and assist victims of human trafficking during 2010, the US State Department has said in a report, but called for more vigorous efforts to fight related crimes.

According to the 2011 Trafficking in Persons report, the government identified 31 adult female victims of sex trafficking, three child victims of sex trafficking, and three male victims of forced labor in 2010. This is a significant decrease from 220 total victims identified by the government in 2009.

The victims of forced labor were identified as trafficking victims and repatriated by the government after being jailed in Poland.

The government provided medical, psychological, financial and housing assistance to all identified victims of trafficking, the report said. It also provided medical and psychological assistance to an additional 319 women, who were potential victims of trafficking, without requiring that they fill out a police report.

According to the State Department, last year Azerbaijan's government funded one trafficking shelter which assisted 27 victims of sex trafficking, compared with 48 victims assisted by the government-funded trafficking shelter in 2009.

The government ran trafficking awareness public service announcements, developed by NGOs, on major TV networks, the report said.

According to the report, the government continued to fund an NGO-operated trafficking hotline that served to provide information to the public and identify potential victims of trafficking.

With regard to the prevention of trafficking, the report noted that the government sustained its efforts in this area in 2010.

Nonetheless, the State Department made a number of recommendations to the government on how to step up combat against trafficking in persons. They cover identifying victims of forced labor, a more effective implementation of the mechanism to help the victims, accurate investigation of trafficking-related crimes and stepping up public awareness activities.