Georgian Government Maintained ‘Highest Level’ in Combating Human Trafficking, US State Department Says
By Khatia Bzhalava
Thursday, July 21, 2022
The United States Department of State has published its annual 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, which notes that the Georgian Government has maintained the “highest level” in combating human trafficking. According to the report, the Georgian Government fully met the “minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking” and remained on Tier 1 in performance evaluation on the metric.
“The government continued to demonstrate serious and sustained efforts during the reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity, therefore Georgia remained on Tier 1. These efforts included providing comprehensive victim assistance, including robust pandemic mitigation efforts at government-run shelters,” the report reads.
The report also highlights that a new mobile group and crisis center has been created in the Adjara region for identifying potential victims among vulnerable children. It is also noted that the country’s criminal code fully criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking, and provided adequate punishment for the crime with a maximum sentence of 12 to 15 years imprisonment.
The report positively evaluated the signing of an updated memorandum between the Central Criminal Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia and the Labour Inspection, which aimed to detect cases of forced labor through joint inspections by mobile teams and labor inspection units.
It is also noted that the government provided equal services for Georgian citizens and foreign national victims and granted foreign victims renewable one-year residence permits with the ability to seek legal employment.
However, the report reads that though the government meets the minimum standards, it convicted fewer traffickers and identified the lowest number of victims since 2016.
“Police conducted some ad hoc raids on commercial sex establishments without a clear strategy on victim identification, and authorities continued to lack the knowledge to investigate and collect evidence in complex cases involving financial crimes, organized crime, and digital evidence,” the US Department of State notes.
The report included priority recommendations on increasing efforts to identify victims proactively and encouraging their participation in investigations and prosecutions through victim-centered court procedures, as well as on improving measures to order restitution for victims, among other advice.
