Human trafficking business booming in Tajikistan

Tajikistan has tightened punishment for the engagement in prostitution, but the illegal business is booming just the same, Nuritdin Amirkulov from the presidential administration said at the Dushanbe conference on human trafficking on Friday.

He said the Tajik police had opened 59 criminal cases on the human trafficking charge in 2005. This is nearly twice more than last year, he said.

This September alone the police exposed nine cases of the engagement in prostitution and exposed several human trafficking businesses. The women are transported to brothels in the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, India and some other countries.

Twenty-six women were returned to Tajikistan this summer as a result of lengthy negotiations with Dubai authorities, a Tajik deputy interior minister said.

No less than 40 Tajik women are still in white slavery in the United Arab Emirates, according to the official statistics, Itar-Tass reported.

Conference delegates said the problem can be resolved only in cooperation with non-governmental and international organizations.