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Caucasus journalists are join their efforts against human traffic

Zahir Amanov

To Iran – to collective oral sex...

Human traffic turns into the disaster of the XXI century

By Parvana Sultanova

Human traffic is one of the sore points of the world nowadays. This trade spread all over the world is already turning into “the best business money-maker”. This can become an inevitable problem unless the necessary measures are taken. No country in the world can secure itself against the human traffic. According to the statistics of USA government approximately 800 - 900 thousand people are taken illegally abroad every year. And 18 - 20 thousand out of those victims are brought into the United States.

USA government appropriated 55.8 million dollars in 2002 fiscal year and 4.6 million dollars in February of 2003 and 3.5 million dollars in March of the same year for the purpose of anti-traffic effort and implementation of various programs. According to the information provided by the USA Department of State the income of those involved into the human traffic business varies from 7 to 10 million dollars per year. The most helpless social stratum engaged by the criminals in human traffic consists of women with the education not exceeding the secondary one and aged between 18 and 35. The principal factor generating the problem is the heavy social and economical situation and unemployment. According to the inquiry of the International Migration Organization people leave Azerbaijan mainly because of economical hardship as well as the above mentioned reasons. For the last few years Azerbaijan community has considerably changed its attitude to the human traffic from “non-interference” point to “concern”.

Azerbaijan as a transit country

After the collapse of Soviet Union and opening the frontiers the number of cases of entering and leaving the country has considerably increased. Geographic position of Azerbaijan and its infrastructural relations with the east and the west as well as the south and the north make the country very attractive for any kind of transit, and current social confusion and conflicts in neighboring countries turn it to a favorable place for migrants looking for welfare and piece in the Third World countries. Since the end of 1991, after the frontiers were opened, the commercial relations with foreign countries started to establish and one of the points capturing the attention was the fact of human traffic ideas turning into reality. And in 1994 and 1995 this issue was already becoming a problem. This process was naturally going on in other CIS counties too. But we will talk about it later…

But for now it is necessary to point out the fact that Azerbaijan is also used as a transit country for human traffic. This fact is shown in the reports of the migration organizations. According to the statistics of the state customs service covering 2002 and 2003 the national frontier guards detained 40 women who were mainly CIS countries citizens traveling to Turkey and United Arab Emirates with bad passports. They used passports issued on basis of forged birth certificates. Evidently this circumstance makes the rule established by the UAE prohibiting women from some of the CIS countries aged under 35 enter the country unless they are accompanied by their husbands or fathers go for nothing. In spite of the attempts made by Azerbaijan government every year hundreds of people trespass the frontiers or exceed the allowed period of stay in the country. It is especially difficult to control the frontier with Russia and Iran due to the mountainous landscape. As with all illegal activities it is impossible to gather detailed and correct information on illegal migrants’ scope in Azerbaijan. According to the research unregulated migration continues to increase the number of women involved into the human traffic in Azerbaijan.

How is the situation in Azerbaijan now?

Due to the secret significance of human traffic and lack of regular data gathering system it is impossible to define the number of women involved into white slavery leaving Azerbaijan. But the interviews with the victims once again confirm the existence of human traffic in the country. It must be noted that the number of women deceived and taken mainly to Dubai, Turkey, Pakistan and Iran within the period between 1990 and 1995 namely instigated into prostitution exceeds 2 thousand. Though the number of such cases during the period between 2000 and 2003 is few, this problem exists anyway. This was confirmed by Azerbaijan official bodies too. According to the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Oruj Zalov approximately 60 cases on the women instigated into prostitution have been disclosed during the period between 2000 and 2003. As for the juveniles instigation into prostitution the number of cases disclosed is 20. In view of this fact legal proceedings have been instituted in accordance with the rules specified in the Criminal Code and confirmed by the Court. But due to the absence of the article on human traffic in the Legislation the accused people have been convicted by the asset on prostitution instigation or keeping a brothel. According to this article the accused people are set free after paying a certain amount of penalty and this enables them to return to their old trade. As it was mentioned earlier those who commit this crime are tried according to article # 243 of the Criminal Code. Let’s remind that according to the article the penalty for the instigation into prostitution under the threat of violation, blackmail, destruction or damage of property or by false pretences for the purpose of gaining income or other benefits is equal to the amount between 500 to 1000 standard conventional units or up to 3 years of imprisonment. That means that the penalty provided for committing such a grave crime is rather light and the criminals can easily pay the penalty from the income they gain. The gaps in the legislation create favorable condition for criminals to develop their activities.

I feel myself as if I was in the mire

I would like to talk a few words on the human traffic victims. Though I have read and written a lot about the victims it was for the first time that I had to talk to one of them. Of course it was not very easy for me to achieve that. The fact that the victims are afraid of the human traffickers prevents from gathering the information willingly or unwillingly. Under such conditions obtaining the information from the victims is as hard as understanding this phenomenon. Because those people do not like talking about the distress they had suffered and most of the time they try to avoid it. Sabina is a victim of human traffic too. In spite of all my attempts at first she absolutely refused to talk. She said that she didn’t want to talk to anyone about it. The person who provided me with Sabina’s contact information recommended that I should not disclose her name, call her Sabina “hanim” (polite form of address to a lady in Azerbaijan) to and treat her nicely. The place I met with Sabina was not her apartment but one of the spots in the city. She was the one who wanted it this way. Despite the fact that 3 years passed she cannot get rid of the horrors that she had to face. She started the conversation. "Why did you insist?", - she asked: «What is the meaning of talking? What I went through is enough for me. I am one of hundreds of victims that have been deceived, humiliated and instigated into immorality”. Here is Sabina's story: "Our family consists of 2 sisters. Our father deserted us when we were children. My elder sister is married. My mother fell seriously ill suddenly. Her treatment required a lot of money. I used to work as a dishwasher and a waiter at the same time in one of the neighboring cafes (refused to tell the name of the cafe). We barely made both ends meet by the salary I got. One day on my way back from work a taxi driver came up to me. I saw him frequently in the café. He said he wanted to help me. "I know that your family situation is very hard. You can work for a few months and earn good money". To tell the truth I did not want to agree at first because of my mother. But distress made me agree. I thought that after working for some period of time I would be able to take my mother with me so that she can undergo medical treatment. But I could not imagine what was going to happen to me. I had no idea about human traffic notion at that time. Three more girls traveled to Dubai with me. We were put into a small room in Dubai and our documents were taken away. The fact that our door was locked put us in doubt. A lady (later on we found out that she was “Mama Roza” (brothel madam)) was keeping us under control. They made us to sign some document we didn’t understand. This is how the horrible time started. When I found out the purpose they brought me to Dubai I wanted to commit suicide but they did not let me do so. Thus I started rendering “service” to 10 - 15 people a day. All the money earned was taken off from us. One of the clients was a frequent visitor to the hotel. We started establishing good relations with him. And one day that person (Russian speaking Arab) heard my entreaty and redeemed my documents from Mama Roza. He sent me back to Baku. I felt very upset and humiliated when I came back to Baku. My mother passed away after a few months. When I told my sister of my adventures after a while she was horrified. I was pregnant. I had an abortion.”

Sabina said that she did not go to the police because she did not believe them: “And also I did not want to discredit myself. They treat those like us as prostitutes anyway. I feel as if I was in the mire. I would like to forget everything and start a new life. But I cannot.

This is not possible”. Sabina noted that she never met that taxi driver anymore. To my question “What are you planning to do?" She answered that she would like to leave Azerbaijan: "I am corresponding with the person who saved my life. If he invites me I will go to Dubai. But not to be in the streets. He promised to help me to find a job and accommodation there. I believe him”. When I asked her “what is the reason of such a belief?” Sabina said that person was her deliverer. She has already indulged in religion. She is far from bad things. “And also what am I going to do here if I stay?”

How do we deal with human traffic?

Starting from the end of 2000 National Action Plan on efforts against human traffic has been developed with the participation of OSCE Baku representative office and International Migration Organization representative office in Azerbaijan. The plan has already been submitted to Milli Mejlish and is expected to be approved in the nearest future. At the same time the work on making amendment to the Criminal Code is underway too.

Evidently the name of our country will be in the list of countries that do not struggle against human traffic prepared by the USA Department of State unless Azerbaijan makes necessary amendments to the Criminal Code in the nearest future, hurries up with adopting the National Action Program. That is why there is no time to be wasted. Human traffic causes grave and contagious diseases. The whole world should fight together against human traffic which is a modern form of slavery in the twenty first century.

(Published on the AVRASIYA Newspaper on 10.04.2004 )