Number of victims of human trafficking on the rise in Azerbaijan

Last year, the number of registered facts of trafficking in people in Azerbaijan was 394, and in the first six months of this year already 250 such cases were recorded. This was reported by Araz Babaev, senior operative officer of the MIA, at a seminar on the problems of trafficking in humans.

According to Mr Babaev, trafficking in humans is the second by profitability criminal business after drug trafficking. The victims of trafficking, according to his story, are doomed to slavery, sexual exploitation and transplantation of organs.

The number of registered facts of human trafficking was 283 in 2007 (300 persons were arrested), in 2008, the count was 394 (349), and after 6 months of this year - 250 (by September 6, 176 persons were arrested).

According to Khanlar Ismailov, chairman of the "Debut" Development Centre, in 2008, 350 facts of trafficking were revealed, in 30 percent of cases children were the victims of illegal transplantation of organs. Cases also abound of taking citizens abroad, mainly women, with promises of employment, marriage, adoption and so forth with subsequent compulsion to prostitution and other types of sexual exploitation.

According to The First News, the number of men, fraudulently taken abroad and forced to slave labour, made 1 percent in 2008, and 3 percent from the beginning of this year.