DUSHANBE, July 21, Asia-Plus  -- According to data from the Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tajikistan, at present more than 50 Tajik women are in labor or sexual bondage outside the republic, Inom Kholmatov, Director of the Center for Raising Qualification of Prosecutor, remarked at a two day seminar on issues of combating human trafficking in Dushanbe today.   

“However, we cannot either confirm or deny this figure because we do not have enough information,” Mr. Kholmatov said in his interview with Asia-Plus. 

According to him, courts in Tajikistan have considered 150 criminal proceedings related to trafficking in persons over the past two years.  “100 such proceedings have been considered in the Sughd province alone,” said Kholmatov, “At present the law enforcement agencies are investigating into the case of illegal use of labor of 30 Tajik citizens in Tajikistan.”  

According to him, not only men or women but also children may become victims of trafficking.  

Tajik chief prosecutor telling the seminar noted that although the rates of human trafficking in Tajikistan were among the lowest among the CIS states and other countries of the world it was necessary to tackle that problem opportunely.  “If we do not fight the human trafficking today,  it will have a mass character in coming one or two years,” Tajik chief prosecutor noted.  

The training was staged by the Mission of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Tajikistan in cooperation with the Tajik Prosecutor-General’s Office.