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ILO 2009 Global Report on Forced Labor presented in Azerbaijan

27 May 2009 14:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Rashad Suleymanov â€“ APA-Economics. The International Labor Organization has today delivered a presentation of its Global Report on Forced Labor.

Zsolt Dudas, ILO project manager in the South Caucasus, said ILO releases reports on forced labour situation every year.

In addition to Baku, this yearâ€™s report is slated for presentation in Washington, New York, Brazil, Lisbon, Berlin, Tokyo and Moscow, he added.

According to him, the report outlines the challenged faced by various governments and international organizations in this field and the essence of the political, economic and legal measures to combat forced labor, the role of law enforcement agencies in preventing human trafficking.

â€œSome 12.4 million people are estimated victims of forced labor and 2.4 million of them are victims of trafficking worldwide per year,â€ he added.

Vahab Mammadov, Demography and Employment Officer at Azerbaijanâ€™s Ministry of Labor and Social Protection, spoke about the measures taken by the Government to combat human trafficking.

In his words, Azerbaijan fulfils the requirements of international conventions and will continue activities in this field.

He noted that the Ministry accomplished to legalize employment of about 25 000 people last year.

The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection will soon enter into a memorandum with a NGO alliance to combat human trafficking, he added.

Javad Shikhaliyev, Human Trafficking Prevention Officer at the Ministry of Internal Affairs, talked about measures taken to combat forced labor involvement and human trafficking.

According to him, a national program for coordinating human trafficking victims was developed and submitted to the Government for approval.

Law enforcement authorities disclosed 76 facts of human trafficking, 91 wrongdoers were held accountable and 43 criminal gangs were arrested in 2008, he added.

Besides, 4 facts were found during the past period of 2009.