Azernews.Az

Azerbaijan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking, the US State Department claimed in an annual report assessing the situation with human trafficking in countries around the world.

``Men and boys from Azerbaijan are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Russia. Women and children from Azerbaijan are subjected to sex trafficking in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, and Iran. Women and children from Azerbaijan are subjected to sex trafficking and children are subjected to forced labor, including forced begging, within the country,`` the Trafficking in Persons Report 2012 says.

The State Department charged that Azerbaijan is also a destination country for men from Turkey, Afghanistan, and China subjected to conditions of forced labor, primarily in the construction industry. Chinese women are subjected to forced labor as street vendors and in agriculture in Azerbaijan. In 2011, Azerbaijani victims were identified in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan, and victims from Turkmenistan, Pakistan, Ukraine, and the Philippines were identified in Azerbaijan by civil society groups, the US government said.

The report claimed further that the Azerbaijani government ``does not fully comply with the minimum standards`` for the elimination of human trafficking.

``During the year, the government prosecuted fewer alleged trafficking cases and convicted fewer trafficking offenders than in the previous year, and it did not identify any labor trafficking victims; therefore, Azerbaijan is placed on Tier 2 Watch List for a fifth consecutive year,`` it said. ``Azerbaijan was granted a waiver of an otherwise required downgrade to Tier 3 because its government has a written plan that, if implemented, would constitute making significant efforts to meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is devoting sufficient resources to implement that plan. During the reporting period, the government did increase funding for protection services, implemented measures to protect at-risk children, made new efforts to inspect work places, and passed legislative amendments which, if implemented, could contribute to an increase in prosecutions and victim protection.``

The report says that the government of Azerbaijan demonstrated some antitrafficking law enforcement efforts during the reporting period. Azerbaijan`s 2005 Law on the Fight Against Trafficking in Persons prohibits both forced prostitution and forced labor and prescribes penalties of five to 15 years` imprisonment, punishments which are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape. The government reported two new labor trafficking investigations and 17 new sex trafficking investigations in 2011, compared with three labor trafficking investigations and an unknown number of sex trafficking investigations in 2010. The government reported prosecuting 20 individuals - nine of which were new prosecutions - for sex trafficking crimes in 2011, compared with 38 individuals prosecuted for such crimes in 2010. The government convicted 10 sex trafficking offenders in 2011, a decrease from the 28 and 58 trafficking offenders convicted in 2010 and 2009, respectively. Nine convicted offenders received sentences ranging from seven to eight years` imprisonment, and one offender received a two-year prison sentence. The government did not prosecute or convict any individuals for forced labor in 2011, the State Department said.

It said the Azerbaijani government made progress during the reporting period to protect and assist victims of trafficking, although victim identification ``remained a concern``. In 2011, the government identified 29 female victims of sex trafficking, including one child, and no male victims or victims of forced labor, while in 2010 the government identified 31 trafficking victims, including three male victims of forced labor.

In its recommendations, the State Department said Azerbaijan should strengthen efforts to identify victims of forced labor by improving implementation of the national victim referral mechanism and by training labor inspectors on proactive victim identification techniques. It also offered to demonstrate and report on efforts to vigorously investigate, prosecute and convict government officials allegedly complicit in both sex and labor trafficking; improve quality of labor inspections at construction sites in order to identify victims of forced labor; and consider amending legislation governing labor migration to require work permits for migrant construction workers from all countries. It also said Azerbaijan should enhance victim protection during court proceedings; send court verdicts to addresses chosen by the victims; enforce the law against passport withholding; and continue efforts to raise public awareness about both sex and labor trafficking.