Two Little Girls

AZERBAIJAN

Azerbaijan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labour and sex trafficking. Women and children from Azerbaijan are subjected to sex trafficking within the country and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Sweden.

Azerbaijani men and boys are subjected to conditions of forced labour in Russia and in Azerbaijan. Some migrant workers from Turkey, as well as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Romania, India, and Ukraine are subjected to conditions of forced labour within Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been used as a transit country for victims of sex and labour trafficking from Central Asia to the UAE, Turkey, and Iran. Within the country, some children, particularly those of Romani descent, are subjected to forced begging and to forced labour as roadside vendors and at tea houses and wedding facilities. Domestic servitude of Filipina victims in Azerbaijan is an emerging problem. Women from internally displaced persons settlements and street children (commonly children that have ended up homeless after being released from correctional facilities, orphanages, and state-run boarding schools) are particularly vulnerable to trafficking.

Azerbaijan is rated as a Tier 2 Country by the US Department of State’s 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report indicating that the Government of Azerbaijan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. 

‘Women and children from Azerbaijan are subjected to sex trafficking within the country and in the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Russia, Iran, and Sweden’

IOM Azerbaijan

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) presence in Azerbaijan dates back to 1996 with the establishment of the IOM Baku office in January. In 1998 the Organization’s second field office has been opened in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic; and in August 2006, IOM’s third office in the country was opened in Mingachevir. On 8 December 1999, the Agreement establishing the legal basis for further development of friendly cooperation between IOM and the Republic of Azerbaijan in handling migration issues has been signed. Following the Agreement’s ratification by the National Assembly of the Republic of Azerbaijan on 8 February 2000, the Council of IOM, at its 81st Session in Geneva, agreed to accept Azerbaijan as an IOM Member State on 7 June 2001. Since the inauguration of its Baku office in January 1996, IOM has been implementing a variety of projects in consistence with its mission to assist the Government of Azerbaijan in meeting the operational challenges of migration, advance understanding of migration issues, encourage social and economic development, and uphold the human dignity and well-being of migrants. More specifically, the intervention areas of IOM in Azerbaijan through the provision of technical assistance to the government are:

  • Legislation development and adjustment

  • Border Management;

  • Prevention of irregular migration, in particular human  smuggling and human trafficking;

  • Facilitation of migration dialogue;

  • Community development and micro credits;

  • Provision of water by rehabilitation of subterranean water systems called ‘chaheriz’;

  • Movement assistance;

  • Assisted return and reintegration;

The Two Little Girls campaign in Azerbaijan will run until September 2015.

KEY CAMPAIGN ACHIEVEMENTS

  • The campaign officially launched at the British Embassy Azerbaijan on 22 October to 34 delegates from government agencies, NGO’s, press and media and people working in anti-trafficking in Azerbaijan. Please see photos below.
  • The film was screened on Khazar TV 15 times during peak viewing times achieving an audience viewing figure of  951,719 
  • 20 copies of the film have been distributed to NGOs and through the Counter Trafficking Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to use during their events where they will continue to distribute them among the local NGOs and related authorities.
  • IOM will distribute further copies of the film through the Azerbaijan Red Crescent Society as part of an intergrated campaign and there will also be further TV broadcasts over 2015.

We will post updates and information about the campaign as it progresses. For further information about the campaign please email emma@twolittlegirls.org