Georgia Remains in Tier 1 of Countries Combatting Trafficking

Georgia remains on the country list of those that have the highest level of fighting against trafficking, according to the United States (US) Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2017.

Through the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the US State Department annually assesses actions carried out by 188 states to combat trafficking in persons.

The US State Department assesment is based on such components as prevention of human trafficking, protection of victims of trafficking, criminal prosecution of perpetrators and collaboration between governments and civil society with respect to trafficking.

The report positively evaluates Georgia’s efforts to investigate and prevent cases of trafficking, actions carried out to protect victims of trafficking, and cooperation measures, as well as activities of the law enforcement authorities with respect to proactive investigations to reveal crimes and prosecute traffickers.

With regards to the effective fight against trafficking, Georgia is inline with such countries of the European Union as France, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Spain, Sweden. Poland, Netherlands, Denmark, and Portugal.

“The Government of Georgia fully meets the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking. The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period; therefore, Georgia remained on Tier 1,” the report reads.

It also said that the Government of Georgia demonstrated serious and sustained efforts by adopting the 2017-2018 national action plan and continuing proactive investigations and screening of vulnerable populations for trafficking indicators.

However, the report says that although the government meets the minimum standards, authorities did not increase anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts and identified fewer victims.

“The labor inspectorate continued to operate with an unclear mandate and restricted ability to investigate employers. Victim identification remained weak for children in exploitative situations on the street, such as those subjected to forced begging and criminality, and for individuals working in vulnerable labor sectors,” the document says.

It also sets a number of recommendations for the Georgian government:

• Vigorously investigate, prosecute, and convict traffickers under Article 143;

• Improve efforts to proactively identify trafficking victims, particularly street children and Georgian and foreign victims in vulnerable labor sectors;

• Increase law enforcement capacity to investigate complex cases;

• Further incorporate the labor inspectorate in anti-trafficking efforts with established roles and responsibilities;

• Improve measures to guarantee victims’ access to compensation, including asset seizure, informing victims of their rights to compensation, and legal assistance;

• Increase transparency of the inter-ministerial trafficking coordination council;

• Fully implement a law that provides street children with free government identification;

• Create integrated, interagency strategies to reduce vulnerability and counter forced begging;

• Continue awareness-raising campaigns about the existence of human trafficking, legal recourse, and available protection services, targeted at vulnerable groups.

“For the first time, Georgia’s steady, serious and sustained efforts against trafficking are underlined in this year’s US State Department report,” the statement of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia (POG) reads.

The Prosecutor’s Office also says that they systematically train prosecutors and improve their qualifications to combat trafficking.

“All prosecutors working on trafficking cases were re-trained in 2016. Moreover, all intern-prosecutors recruited in the system were trained regarding the importance of the fight against trafficking. Re-training of prosecutors is also scheduled for 2017. Further, it is planned to extend the role and functions of victim-witness coordinators employed within the system of the Prosecutor’s Office, which will positively affect the protection of victim rights,” the statement continues.

Deputy Chief Prosecutor of Georgia, Giorgi Gabitashvili, stated that combatting trafficking is one of the major priorities of the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia.

“A separate chapter in the six-year action plan developed by the Prosecutor’s Office of Georgia is dedicated to human trafficking, where the actions making combatting traffickers as well as crime prevention more effective are set forth in detail,” he said.

Thea Morrison