Traffickers Target Northern Tajikistan

Human trafficking is a growing problem in Tajikistan, with the country’s northern region most affected by this lucrative form of modern-day slavery that can net traffickers up to 10,000 US dollars per victim.



Almost 60 per cent of the 230 cases of human trafficking uncovered in Tajikistan this year have been in the northern Sogd region. Experts say the traffickers are channelling Tajik women from Khujand, Sogd’s administrative centre, to the United Arab Emirates, UAE, through the Kyrgyz city of Osh.



This route is popular, they say, because the geography makes it a relatively easy trip, and the lack of visa requirements means that trafficked women blend in with the crowds of shuttle traders crossing the border.



“We cannot control the flow of human trafficking,” admitted one Khujand police officer in an interview with IWPR.



As a result, most Tajik victims of trafficking end up in UAE, where the majority are put to work as prostitutes.



Mohiniso was recruited when she went to visit a relative in hospital. At the age of 28, she is divorced with two children and had tried without success to find a job in Tajikistan.



“One woman whom I met there kept offering me work in Russia where her friends supposedly had a goods stall,” she recalled. “I thought it over and agreed.”



But instead of being sent to Russia, Mohiniso was held captive in a Khujand apartment for two weeks.



“They said they were preparing documents and tickets to Moscow. I found out too late that I was to be taken to the Emirates and forced to work as a prostitute,” she said.



There are dozens of such victims in Sogd, many of whom fall into the hands of traffickers out of despair, and ignorance of the consequences. They often stay until deported by the UAE government or attract the attention of groups like the International Organisation for Migration.



One woman who recently returned from UAE told IWPR of the horror she experienced after being taken by a client from her hotel to a boat, “There were 10 more sailors there. Just try to make a fuss - they’d throw you off the boat to the sharks and that will be the end of that.



“But the worst thing of all is falling into the hands of the vice police. They’ll take you to the station, shave your hair off and beat you with sticks.”



Back in Tajikistan, the police have had some success bringing the traffickers to justice. The Sogd prosecutor’s office said 45 people were charged with trafficking women to the UAE in 2005.



They included five people recently tried for their part in a ring involved in the recruitment and sexual exploitation of Tajik women in the UAE. This case ended at the Chkalovsk city court, with Marifat Ziyabaeva, Barno Abdurahmanova, Ikrom Akbarov, Shamsiniso Alimova and Fatima Mirvorisova sentenced to between one and six years for their part in a trafficking network.



“Some did the recruiting, others prepared documents, and a third group sent them to Dubai. Mirvorisova alone was responsible for sending 12 women to this city. She repented and actively assisted in the investigation, so the court reduced her sentence to five years,” said court official Manzura Mamadova.



The Chkalovsk case was the second trafficking-ring trial in the north in recent months. In early October, six Khujand residents were convicted of trafficking six women from around the region. “In this group, too, each person had their own task to carry out,” said an investigator on the case.



Some complain, however, that despite recent successes in court, Tajik law enforcement authorities have been largely ineffective in combating the human trafficking trade. IWPR was told of instances where police themselves are directly involved in the process, along with immigration officials who issue the fake passports given to victims.



For their part, the police complain that their investigations are restricted by the lack of cross-border cooperation on combating this lucrative trade.



“Sixteen suspects are put on the wanted list, but they are generally in UAE, where they are not arrested and extradited becaause there is no bilateral agreement on this,” said Asadullo Urunov, a senior assistant to the Sogd regional prosecutor Abdughafur Kalandarov.



Izatullo Muhammadiev, who is Kalandarov’s deputy, believes a recent investigation into 18 suspected traffickers was hindered by a lack of collaboration between governments. “If human trafficking is to be combated more effectively, international agreements are required,” he said.



Meanwhile, Kalandarov told a meeting of Khujand law enforcement bodies on December 10 that “money earned by human trafficking goes towards financing international terrorist organisations”.



Despite the harrowing stories, there are some in Tajikistan like taxi driver Shavkat who have little sympathy for the plight of women who fall victim to human traffickers. He believes many go abroad voluntarily, knowing full well what they will have to do when they get there.



“What sort of victims are they?” he said. “They go to the police with complaints about their employer when he tricks them out of their money. So they pretend to be victims.”



Whether they go willingly or not, however, the head of a victim support group said many are shunned when they finally return home. Rafoat Boboeva's group Source of Life, which teaches trades and gives small loans to trafficking victims, said one woman who’d suffered at the hands of traffickers was then victimised by her Khujand neighbours.



“[They] started laughing at her and pestering her. Because of this, she was forced to go back home to a remote village to the southwest of Khujand,” said Boboeva.



Bakhtior Valiev and Madina Saifidinova are IWPR contributors in northern Tajikistan.