VZCZCXRO2694
PP RUEHDE
DE RUEHKB #0252/01 0601119
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 011119Z MAR 07 ZDK CCY
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2478
INFO RUEHAD/AMEMBASSY ABU DHABI 0064
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 2010
RUEHTH/AMEMBASSY ATHENS 0237
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0229
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 0192
RUEHCH/AMEMBASSY CHISINAU 0078
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0005
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 0010
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0060
RUEHKV/AMEMBASSY KYIV 0015
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0636
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0026
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0352
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI 1489
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB 0013
RUEHDE/AMCONSUL DUBAI 0050
RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 0027
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNOSC/OSCE COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BAKU 000252 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP; G; INL; DRL; PRM; AND EUR/CARC 
DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREF ASEC ELAB KCRM KWMN KFRD SMIG AJ
SUBJECT: \\CORRECTED COPY - TAG ORDER\\ PART I OF II: AZERBAIJAN 
2007 TIP REPORT SUBMISSION 
 
REF: 06 STATE 202745 
 
BAKU 00000252  001.4 OF 007 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - NOT FOR INTERNET DISTRIBUTION. 
 
¶1. (U) As per reftel, paragraph 3 below begins Embassy Baku's 
submission on status of action the GOAJ has taken to combat human 
trafficking.  Answers are keyed to questions in reftel. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In preparing this report, the Embassy has undertaken 
extensive contacts with international organizations, domestic 
non-governmental organizations (NGOs), journalists, and GOAJ 
officials, and has analyzed all available data.  Reliable statistics 
on trafficking in Azerbaijan do not exist, but more information is 
becoming available as the issue gains attention from international 
organizations, local NGOs, and the GOAJ.  To the extent that 
transnational trafficking occurs here, we believe that Azerbaijan is 
primarily a transit and source country, and not a major destination 
point; however, some believe that as Azerbaijan's oil wealth 
increases, the country will become a destination point.  Local NGOs 
believe that internal trafficking of men for forced labor, primarily 
to the capital for work in the construction industry, is becoming a 
growing problem.  It is also possible that internal trafficking of 
women for work in the sex industry exists.  Prostitution is illegal 
and publicly highly stigmatized in this secular Islamic society; 
however, a growing sex industry does exist.  While trafficking 
exists, we believe that prostitution and irregular economic 
migration are more predominant in Azerbaijan than trafficking in 
persons.  Due to the lack of public awareness and understanding 
regarding the exact definition of TIP, it is likely that in civil 
society and possibly GOAJ reporting, the terms trafficking, 
prostitution, economic migration, and migrant smuggling are often 
confused and used interchangeably. 
 
In 2006 the GOAJ undertook some important steps to prevent and 
combat trafficking.  The National TIP Coordinator, who was appointed 
in 2005, continued to work with the President's Office to address 
the GOAJ's TIP obligations.  Throughout the spring, the GOAJ 
cooperated with the international community to identify and train 
volunteers to staff the TIP victims' assistance shelter and the 
pending NGO-led TIP hotline. 
 
In August, the GOAJ restructured the Ministry of Internal Affairs 
(MIA) to create a new Unit to Combat Trafficking in Persons.  Prior 
to this unit's creation, the GOAJ's anti-TIP efforts had been the 
responsibility of a sub-unit located within the Organized Crime 
Unit, which has been implicated repeatedly in credible allegations 
of gross human rights violations and has failed to properly 
investigate and prosecute those responsible for these violations. 
We view the separation of anti-TIP responsibilities from the OCU as 
a positive step, and see the creation of the new unit as a signal 
that the GOAJ is taking its TIP commitments seriously. 
 
In a step beyond the agreement outlined in the National Action Plan, 
in September the GOAJ designated a TIP-hotline number that will be 
accessible toll-free both within Azerbaijan and internationally once 
the NGO-led hotline is functional. 
 
In October, the GOAJ opened an assistance shelter for victims of 
trafficking in persons.  Throughout the building selection and 
renovation process, the GOAJ was receptive to international 
recommendations regarding the security infrastructure of the 
building and the accommodations necessary for a victims' shelter. 
 
BAKU 00000252  002.4 OF 007 
 
 
Financially, the GOAJ provided the building and funded most of the 
necessary renovations.  In addition, because the donor organizations 
have not yet established a Memorandum of Understanding with the GOAJ 
regarding the shelter's overhead costs and staff salaries, the GOAJ 
has paid all overhead and salary costs in the interim. 
 
As of March 1, the GOAJ had designated a location suitable to house 
the pending NGO-led hotline, which it plans to renovate and make 
operational within the coming months.  The GOAJ has been receptive 
to international recommendations regarding the hotline, and we 
expect that the GOAJ will continue to be receptive to international 
advice on this and on improving its TIP-related infrastructure. 
 
In addition, during this reporting period, the GOAJ acknowledged for 
the first time that labor trafficking occurs in Azerbaijan. 
According to the Head of the MIA's Unit to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons, the GOAJ will implement plans to combat labor trafficking 
in the coming year. 
 
BEGIN TEXT OF THE REPORT: 
 
¶3. (SBU) A. Azerbaijan is a country of origin and transit, and to a 
lesser degree a country of destination for internationally 
trafficked men, women, and children.  According to the GOAJ, 86 
victims of trafficking were identified in 2006 (3 children, 74 
women, and 9 men).  The GOAJ reported that one victim was Moldovan 
and the rest were citizens of Azerbaijan.  Local NGOs reported that 
in 2006, they also identified approximately 20 Uzbek victims, two 
victims each from Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, one victim each from 
Russia and Ukraine, and several possible victims from Bangladesh and 
Pakistan (explained below).  The GOAJ maintains that the Uzbek 
victims were prostitutes, rather than TIP victims, who have since 
been deported.  IOM reported that it helped repatriate 16 victims in 
2006, and as of March 1, three in 2007.  Five of these were Uzbek, 
one Kyrgyz, and the rest - including three minors - were female 
Azerbaijani victims, most of whom had been trafficked to Turkey. 
IOM also reported knowledge of four female Azerbaijani victims who 
were trafficked to New Delhi, India for sexual exploitation.  As of 
March 1, IOM was assisting one victim, an Azerbaijani minor who had 
been trafficked to Zagreb, Croatia.  All victims whom IOM assisted 
had been trafficked for sexual exploitation. 
 
According to the GOAJ, Azerbaijani victims were trafficked by air to 
the United Arab Emirates; Turkey; Iran; Pakistan; India; and Russia. 
 Azerbaijani victims were also trafficked by railway and by sea 
routes through Georgia to Turkey, and by land from the Azerbaijani 
exclave of Nakhchivan to Turkey.  The Moldovan victim was trafficked 
by air through Azerbaijan to Dubai, UAE.  NGO activists maintain 
that Azerbaijan continued to be used as a transit point for Central 
Asian victims trafficked to Turkey.  NGO activists believe that an 
increasing number of Azerbaijani victims and transit victims end up 
in Western European countries such as Germany, France, Greece, 
Finland, and the Netherlands.  Local NGOs also reported rumors that 
Azerbaijani victims are trafficked by bus from Azerbaijan's southern 
regions to Tehran, Iran, but we have been unable to confirm these 
reports. 
 
The GOAJ reported that 77 TIP victims, including three minors, were 
sexually exploited, and nine were trafficked for forced labor. 
(NOTE: In previous years, the GOAJ reported no instances of labor 
trafficking.)  Local non-governmental organizations, however, 
maintain that the numbers are greater than those officially 
 
BAKU 00000252  003.4 OF 007 
 
 
documented by the GOAJ and that trafficking of men for labor is a 
growing problem.  While we believe official figures may not 
represent the entirety of the problem in Azerbaijan, figures 
generated from local NGOs are also not entirely reliable due to lack 
of capacity, lack of training, lack of understanding of what 
constitutes TIP, and the hidden nature of the crime.  The few local 
NGOs that work on TIP report only irregularly and the GOAJ publishes 
reports annually on its efforts. 
 
The nine GOAJ-reported instances of labor trafficking were all 
Azerbaijani men who were trafficked to Russia.  One local NGO 
reported several cases that appear to be labor trafficking in the 
form of debt bondage.  These were alleged cases of groups of 
Bangladeshi and Pakistani men who were lured to Azerbaijan by the 
prospect of onward travel to Europe by individuals claiming to be 
travel agents.  According to the NGO, these men were subsequently 
held hostage for several months, as their captors demanded more 
money than the initially agreed-upon amount, which the victims had 
intended to pay for travel services.  Once the captors obtained the 
requested sum from the victims' families, the men were released. 
The NGO representative reported that three of the Bangladeshi 
victims were minors.  He also reported that the trafficker of the 
Pakistani victims was also Pakistani, and was subsequently convicted 
with illegal transportation and document forgery. 
 
We also believe that trafficking occurs within Azerbaijan's borders, 
but there is little concrete information to verify this point. 
According to the GOAJ, there were no cases of internal trafficking 
in 2006.  One local NGO reported several cases of internal labor 
trafficking from Azerbaijan's regions to Baku to work in the 
construction industry.  From our discussions with civil society 
groups and journalists, we also suspect that there is internal 
trafficking of women and girls for sexual exploitation. 
 
According to the GOAJ and to several local NGOs, the Azerbaijani 
exclave of Nakhchivan has become a transit point for women 
trafficked to Turkey.  A Nakhchivan-based NGO reported that 
Nakhchivan is also sometimes used as a transit point for victims 
trafficked to Iran. 
 
Some NGOs believe that Azerbaijan is becoming a destination country 
for women from Central Asian countries, Russia, and Georgia.  The 
few cited cases of this appear to be instances in which Azerbaijan 
was intended to be the transit point, but became the end point. 
Although there currently is not concrete information to support 
these claims, Azerbaijan's huge influx of oil wealth - causing the 
country to have the world's fastest growing economy - could result 
in Azerbaijan becoming a destination point. 
 
There was no reliable information regarding trafficking to, from, or 
through the Azerbaijani territory currently occupied by Armenian 
forces, including Nagorno-Karabakh.  The GOAJ does not exercise 
control over this territory. 
 
It is difficult to identify vulnerable populations due to the 
overall lack of information on TIP crimes.  It is believed, however, 
that most victims are lured for economic prospects, including those 
who knowingly agree to work in the sex industry.  The GOAJ and local 
NGOs reported that traffickers are increasingly using the prospect 
of marriage to lure victims.  This is often through religious 
marriages, which are recognized only by mosques and not the state, 
and/or early marriages, which UNIFEM reported are on the rise 
 
BAKU 00000252  004.4 OF 007 
 
 
throughout the former Soviet Union.  Both religious and early 
marriages occur most frequently in Azerbaijan's southern regions. 
In spite of GOAJ and NGO attention to the matter, religious and 
early marriages remain a taboo topic and no concrete information is 
available. 
 
It is generally believed that women are at the highest risk for 
trafficking.  Women from a variety of backgrounds have become TIP 
victims, making it difficult to determine a set pattern.  IDP and 
refugee communities are often reported to be at the highest risk, 
although we suspect that other extremely impoverished populations - 
some of which live in worse conditions than IDPs/refugees - are at 
equal risk.  A 2006 UNIFEM Report on IDP Women in Azerbaijan 
concluded that TIP remains a taboo subject in these communities, and 
there is insufficient evidence to determine the degree to which 
IDPs/refugees are at risk.  Civil society groups have also reported 
that street children and children in orphanages are vulnerable to 
trafficking and other exploitive actions, commonly in the form of 
child begging.  In addition, it is believed men seeking jobs may be 
trafficked internally to work on Baku's numerous construction 
projects or internationally to places such as Russia or Turkey. 
However, with the exception of the nine GOAJ-reported cases of labor 
trafficking, there were no reliable statistics available to 
differentiate between irregular labor migration, trafficking, and 
poor working conditions. 
 
¶B. As stated above, it is believed the TIP situation in Azerbaijan 
has not changed significantly in its nature in the past year, 
although many NGOs and the GOAJ believe the crime is becoming more 
hidden due to increased GOAJ efforts to combat TIP.  One local NGO 
reported that the number of trafficking routes has increased because 
of the need to vary activity to evade heightened law enforcement 
attention.  However, there was no reliable data to verify this 
assertion.  The GOAJ has demonstrated political will throughout the 
year to combat and prevent trafficking in persons in Azerbaijan, as 
demonstrated by its efforts to create the necessary infrastructure. 
 
Because of the high level of poverty it is difficult to distinguish 
between those who travel internally or leave the country voluntarily 
to prostitute themselves for economic reasons, and those who are 
unwittingly recruited into the sex industry via traffickers.  It is 
likely that these numbers are often confused and interchanged.  It 
is also likely that a number of victims who voluntarily prostitute 
themselves end up as trafficking victims.  We believe a number of 
methods are used to entice victims, including lucrative job offers 
and solicitations by friends.  Offers of marriage are also employed 
to a lesser, but growing extent.  While a variety of sources 
indicate that networks of organized crime operate trafficking rings, 
there was no reliable information to determine with clarity the 
profile of the average trafficker in Azerbaijan.  In 2006, female 
traffickers were arrested in much higher numbers than male 
traffickers.  It is believed that a combination of false documents 
and bribing officials (in particular border guards) are the primary 
vehicles to move victims out of the country. 
 
¶C. While the GOAJ has demonstrated the political will at a variety 
of levels to address the problem, the GOAJ continues to struggle 
with a number of other issues that distract it from anti-TIP 
efforts.  In spite of its increasing oil wealth, the GOAJ lacks 
appropriately allocated funding to fulfill the projects it needs to 
undertake to meet its TIP obligations.  The GOAJ also lacks adequate 
capacity to aid victims, because although a TIP victims' assistance 
 
BAKU 00000252  005.4 OF 007 
 
 
shelter is now open, the NGO-led TIP hotline and necessary referral 
network are not yet functional, nor is a structured, systematic plan 
to accommodate victims.  In addition, in spite of the designation of 
TIP liaisons in several other government agencies, the GOAJ's 
efforts to combat TIP remain extremely concentrated in the MIA. 
Some NGOs complain that MIA's dominance of the field leaves little 
room for civil society to operate. 
 
In spite of the aforementioned difficulties, the GOAJ made 
significant steps during the year to address these issues.  As of 
March 1, the GOAJ had designated a location to house an NGO-led TIP 
hotline, which it plans to renovate and open in the coming months. 
Pervasive corruption remained one of the biggest impediments to GOAJ 
action.  The GOAJ has taken some steps to address systemic 
corruption, but much remains to be done.  While we do not believe 
that officers working directly on TIP issues facilitated TIP crimes, 
widespread corruption problems make it possible that lower-level 
officials accept bribes to either turn the other way or to directly 
facilitate trafficking. 
 
¶D. The GOAJ, through its National Action Plan, systematically 
monitors anti-TIP efforts and provides regular updates to the USG 
and other international partners with the expertise to help the GOAJ 
address the problem.  The GOAJ also periodically makes available its 
crime statistics throughout the year, including TIP statistics. 
Efforts at prevention are less well publicized; however, the GOAJ 
periodically published press releases on conferences and seminars 
intended to educate the population. 
 
PREVENTION 
---------- 
 
¶A. The GOAJ acknowledges that TIP occurs in Azerbaijan and 
consistently states its commitment privately and publicly to 
developing more effective activities and policies to combat TIP to 
prevent the development of a large-scale problem. 
 
¶B. The GOAJ agencies involved in anti-TIP efforts include the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of National Security, 
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry 
of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Justice, 
Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Health, the 
Prosecutor General's Office, the State Committee for Family, Women 
and Children's Issues, the State Border Services and the State 
Customs Committee.  The MIA takes the lead on anti-TIP efforts; the 
National TIP Coordinator is a Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs. 
The MIA also oversees the Special Anti-Trafficking Police Squad 
(SPATS), now under the purview of its Unit to Combat Trafficking in 
Persons. 
 
¶C. The GOAJ has conducted several joint seminars with local NGOs in 
a number of regions throughout Azerbaijan, involving youth, local 
government authorities, and police representatives.  The objective 
of these seminars was to investigate the reasons and conditions 
behind TIP in Azerbaijan.  The GOAJ conducted a joint seminar with 
the State Committee on Work with Religious Structures on the role of 
clerical leaders in fighting trafficking in persons.  High-level 
representatives of the State Committee on Family, Women and 
Children's Issues regularly traveled throughout the regions to 
conduct seminars and trainings on a wide variety of gender issues, 
including education on trafficking and TIP-prevention.  These 
seminars targeted women in the regions from all sectors of society. 
 
BAKU 00000252  006.4 OF 007 
 
 
The GOAJ also printed and distributed pamphlets and used the media 
to increase public awareness of TIP, including the creation of a 
website for the MIA's Unit to Combat Trafficking in Persons. 
 
¶D. With a poverty rate of 30 percent, the GOAJ has made job creation 
and economic development a priority.  The State Program for Poverty 
Reduction and the State Program on Social-Economic Development in 
the regions provide a strategic plan for development outside the oil 
economy and permanent job creation.  These programs have reduced the 
poverty level from over 50 percent several years ago to around 30 
percent in 2006.  The GOAJ has also continued efforts to build 
permanent housing for IDPs, using the State Oil Fund.  In 2006, 
President Aliyev declared that the GOAJ will eliminate all tent 
camps by the end of 2007.  These programs will and likely have 
already reduced the occurrence of trafficking by creating better 
domestic employment prospects and better living conditions, two of 
the key factors of TIP in Azerbaijan.  As stated above, the State 
Committee on Family, Women, and Children's Issues also regularly 
works with Azerbaijani women to empower them and raise public 
awareness of gender issues.  Through the Ministry of Education, the 
GOAJ also supported school information programs run by domestic 
NGOs. 
 
¶E.  The GOAJ takes a clear lead on anti-TIP efforts.  The lead 
government interlocutors include the President's Advisor on Law 
Enforcement Bodies and the National TIP Coordinator.  The GOAJ works 
with several local NGOs.  The National Coordinator and the 
President's Office regularly interact with the international 
community on TIP (namely the International TIP Working Group, 
comprised of the USG, OSCE, and IOM) and seek our advice and 
assistance on implementation of programs to combat TIP.  During the 
past year, the GOAJ worked in close consultation with the 
international community to renovate and open a shelter for 
trafficking victims, and continued to work towards establishing an 
NGO-led TIP hotline.  We expect close collaboration to continue on 
these measures and with future projects. 
 
¶F.  The GOAJ has continued efforts to enhance active monitoring of 
its borders and its international airports, and increased training 
for immigration personnel.  The MIA works with the State Border 
Services and the State Customs Committee to track passengers flying 
in and out of Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport in order to 
identify potential traffickers and trafficking victims, and to 
monitor seaports and land crossings. 
 
¶G.  The GOAJ, through the mechanism adopted in the 2004 National 
Action Plan, coordinates communication between various government 
bodies and international institutions.  The multi-agency task force 
is headed by the National TIP Coordinator, who is also a Deputy 
Minister of Internal Affairs.  The task force is composed of 
department heads from the Ministries of Justice, National Security, 
Labor and Social Welfare, Youth and Sport, Culture and Tourism, 
Economic Development, and Health, as well as the Prosecutor 
General's Office, the President's Office, the State Border Service, 
and the State Customs Committee.  The National Coordinator serves as 
the single point of contact for anti-TIP efforts. 
 
Under the 2004 legislation on combating corruption, the GOAJ 
established the Anti-Corruption Commission led by the President's 
Chief of Staff, which includes other members of the President's 
Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of National 
Security, Parliament, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor 
 
BAKU 00000252  007.4 OF 007 
 
 
General's Office, and the Ministry of Justice.  The Anti-Corruption 
Commission submits annual reports to the President, Parliament, and 
the Constitutional Court.  Under the Commission, the GOAJ also 
established an inter-agency legislative working group to draft new 
legislation.  The USG and other international organizations advise 
the working group.  The GOAJ also regularly works with the USG, the 
Council of Europe, and other international experts to vet proposed 
corruption legislation.  Additionally, the Prosecutor General's 
office created a separate Department to Fight Corruption.  However, 
the GOAJ's efforts to combat systemic corruption remained nascent. 
 
¶H.  The GOAJ has a National Action Plan (NAP) to address TIP, 
adopted in 2004.  The NAP was developed by the President's Office 
and the Ministry of Internal Affairs in consultation with the USG, 
OSCE, and IOM.  Since 2004, the GOAJ has discussed the NAP with 
target audience groups at conferences and seminars related to 
trafficking.  Key elements of the NAP were codified in 2005 with the 
passage of a formal law against trafficking. 
 
DERSE