Geghard Foundation: Azerbaijani government making no effort to combat human trafficking

ArmInfo. The Azerbaijani government " does not meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking in persons and is not making significant efforts to do so". This is stated in the US State Department's 2024 report, presented in an article by the Geghard Scientific and Analytical Foundation.

The foundation's article notes that the Azerbaijani press has already sounded the alarm on this issue this year, publishing news about the revelations  of human trafficking cases. The media wrote that the  Federal Investigation Bureau  of Pakistan (FIA) had  arrested members of an international human trafficking gang led from Azerbaijan.

The Geghard  pointed out  that it was found that the members of the group organized the transportation of Pakistani citizens to Europe for money, using the territory of Azerbaijan as a transit route, and  with the involvement of local agents and organizations supporting the issuance of visas.  At the same time, as noted in the article, according to Matanat Azizova, the director of the Crisis Center of Azerbaijan, the applications  received from relatives of people who became victims of human trafficking and the results of the conducted research surprised even the leadership of Azerbaijan. "The legislation of Azerbaijan is extremely flawed, as a result of which the country has turned into a center for human trafficking. There are many facts that women from Nakhichevan and other regions of Azerbaijan are recruited and transported to Baku for  forced prostitution," the Foundation's article explains.  According to Azizova there are also cases of child trafficking in Azerbaijan.

The article further notes that human rights activists and non-governmental organizations have reported that, along with the increase in arrests, cases of trafficking victims being used for organ transplants have also become more frequent. "Similar cases have also been recorded in the Armed Forces," the article continues, recalling that between 2006 to 2012 alone,  484 cases of human trafficking were registered in Azerbaijan".

The Geghard noted that despite the efforts of international organizations, human trafficking in this country continues remains a concern. At the same time, it is noted that, given Baku's attitude towards organizations that have been supporting Azerbaijan for decades in preventing human trafficking and mitigating its consequences, including  the suspension of their activities, it is obvious that the Azerbaijani authorities do not intend to wage a real fight against this phenomenon, which is considered an evil in the field of human rights.