Uzbekistan's Response to International Human Trafficking

            Central Asia is known as one of the most problematic source regions for the forced labor and sex trade.  Governments of the countries in this region are taking different steps to curb the rising numbers, including cooperating with and appealing for assistance from inter-governmental organizations (IGOs).  The government of Uzbekistan, while engaging in some basic preventative measures to make it more difficult for export traffickers to operate, is lagging behind in actual investigation and prosecution of alleged and known parties involved in forced labor or sex operations. 

In 2003, the official attitude of Uzbekistan reflected an apparent desire to address human trafficking.  At a seminar in Tashkent dedicated to preventing human trafficking, which was hosted by the Uzbek youth-activism NGO Istikboli Avlod (Future of Generation) the Foreign Ministry of Uzbekistan, and USAID, Deputy Foreign Minister Vladimir Norov declared that the Uzbek “government intends to step up its activity on preventing human trafficking.” [1]  To what extent has this promise been fulfilled since then? 

                In terms of international collaboration, the government of Uzbekistan, with help from IGOs, has made noticeable progress in developing an organizational anti-trafficking framework since 2003.  In 2012, authorities within the Uzbek government took steps toward collaboration with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) by participating in workshops and briefings organized by the OSCE Project Coordinator.  The objectives of their collaboration were two-fold.  Firstly, the project aimed to increase inter-agency communication and information sharing between the territorial offices of the anti-trafficking commission and Uzbek police and state authorities.  Secondly, the project launched transit and destination workshops, which served to educate law enforcement personnel on how to better protect the rights and security of victims of trafficking.  This project also served to educate “consular personnel [to] learn how to identify potential victims of human trafficking and refer them for assistance.”  What can be taken from this?  It seems that Uzbek authorities are compliant and participatory with international organizations training and improving the anti-trafficking capacities of Uzbek law enforcement and diplomatic personnel, but how exactly is the Uzbek government responding to crimes and threats of human trafficking?

                Uzbek judicial authorities have been participating in IGO-funded training seminars.  In 2012, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime hosted a training seminar, of which the “main participants of the training were the trainers/experts currently working at the specialized national training centers which provide advanced training for judges and prosecutors in all respective countries. In total, there were 28 participants from all five Central Asia countries representing Supreme Courts, Ministries of Justice and General Prosecutor's Offices.”  This was a comprehensive training, intended to address capabilities of prosecution against violators of human trafficking laws, as well as protecting and rehabilitating victims of forced sex or labor traffickers.  Judging from this, Uzbekistan’s judicial capacities to effectively address human trafficking cases are noticeably improving.

There are a few convictions that have recently been carried out.  In June 2013, an Uzbek woman who was the leader of a trafficking ring in Thailand was sentenced to fourteen and a half years in prison and fined roughly $600,000 USD.  Unfortunately, despite the widespread suspicions and claims of an increase in trafficking activity from the country, actual prosecutions and convictions of suspected traffickers are declining in number.  What’s worse is that official statistics on investigations, prosecutions, and convictions are often obfuscated and unreliable.  Since 2010, there has been a steady decline in actual convictions of alleged human traffickers.  According to the U.S. State Department 2013 Trafficking in Persons Report:

“In 2012, law enforcement agencies reported conducting 1,013 trafficking investigations, compared with 951 investigations in 2011. Authorities reported prosecuting 531 trafficking cases in 2012, compared with 444 in 2011, and reported that 626 people were convicted on trafficking-related offences in 2012, compared with 636 in 2011.  The government reported that 357 convicted offenders were sentenced to time in prison and 34 traffickers were sentenced to correctional labor, compared with 434 convicted offenders sentenced to time in prison in 2011.” [5]

                This decline in convictions could be attributed to an apparent complicity of Uzbek police in human trafficking operations.  In 2012, Gulnaza Yuldasheva, after accusing police and government officials in the border city of Chinoz, Tashkent Province of being involved in the trafficking and abduction of her two brothers to Kazakhstan, was convicted of extortion and sentenced to two years in prison.  In spite of the increased international collaboration and aid to Uzbek systems, there are still many accusations of Uzbek police being affiliated in crimes of trafficking.  According to Samariddin Mamashakirov, spokesman for the Agency of Foreign Migration Affairs of Uzbekistan, the Uzbek 2008 anti-trafficking law provides for the safety of migrants seeking to leave Uzbekistan for jobs abroad.  It is evident that the stated guarantees of this legislation are not being upheld by authorities in Uzbekistan.

Considering these mixed results in prosecution of parties involved in international labor and sex trafficking, in addition to the domestic forced labor policies which are still enforced by the Uzbek government, the U.S. State Department has downgraded Uzbekistan to Tier 3 status on the Trafficking in Persons evaluation.  Tier 3 countries are countries “whose governments do not fully comply with the minimum standards and are not making significant efforts to do so.” [8]  While the Uzbek government is ostensibly cooperative and in favor of international aid and collaboration to fight human trafficking, the actual manifestation of effective investigation, prosecution, and conviction of guilty parties drastically needs to improve.  There is still potential for the new generation of prosecutors, judges, and law enforcement officers, in conjunction with IGO and NGO information-sharing, to realize their potential to curb Uzbekistan’s struggle with human trafficking.

Sources:

1.    UzReport “Uzbek government takes steps to prevent human trafficking” Times of Central Asia 25 September 2003

2.    Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe http://www.osce.org/uzbekistan/101504

3.    The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime https://www.unodc.org/centralasia/en/htsm-tot-for-judges-and-prosecutors.html

4.    Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty “Uzbek Woman Sentenced for Human Trafficking” http://www.rferl.org/content/uzbekistan-human-trafficking/25012404.html

5.    US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2013 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/210742.pdf

6.     Daniel DeFraia Global Post August 3, 2012 http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/120803/human-trafficking-uzbekistan

7.    “NE DOPUSTIT'' RABSTVA V SOVREMENNOM MIRE” Samariddin Mamashakirov September 1, 2013 http://www.narodnoeslovo.uz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3070:aktualinaya-tema&catid=111:actual-topic&Itemid=50

8.    US Department of State Tier Placement Guide 2013 http://www.state.gov/j/tip/rls/tiprpt/2013/210548.htm