UNODC holds the second Multi-Stakeholder Coordination Meeting on Countering Trafficking in Persons

On 4 April 2023, UNODC convened the second Multi-Stakeholder Coordination Meeting on Countering Trafficking in Persons (TIP) in Uzbekistan in 2023.

Representatives of National Commission on Combating TIP and Forced Labour, and Sub-Commission on Combating TIP, Supreme Court (SC), Supreme Judicial Council, Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO), Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, U.S. Embassy in Uzbekistan, U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), International Organization for Migration (IOM), Winrock International and  “Istiqbolli Avlod” NGO took part in the meeting. The event was aimed at discussing the results of the counter-TIP efforts in the first quarter of 2023, as well as the plans for the second quarter of 2023 and beyond.    

Opening the meeting, Dr. Reda Sirgediene, UNODC Regional Adviser on Countering TIP and Smuggling of Migrants expressed gratitude to all partners for their active cooperation and commitment in enhancing the capacity of Uzbekistan in tackling TIP and emphasized that regular coordination meetings had proved to be a very important initiative with an enormous potential to make a real difference. She gave the rundown on the UNODC interventions in Central Asia, in particular in Uzbekistan. One of them was the elaboration of the handbook on investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of TIP cases in Uzbekistan. 

As per her remarks, “the TIP handbook will serve as a basis for developing future capacity building activities, as well as updating relevant curricula and modules at educational entities, while ultimately it will serve as a practical manual for criminal justice practitioners to handle TIP cases”. Its completion is expected at the end of April. She also mentioned about the regional workshop on adjudication of TIP cases conducted in March 2023 with international experts and the regional meeting of Central Asian Ministries of Internal Affairs dedicated to setting up the Central Asia Law Enforcement Network against Trafficking in Persons (CALENTIP).

During the session on the review of the state of TIP in Uzbekistan and implemented activities in the first quarter of 2023, Zukhra Khodjaeva, representative of the Sub-Commission for Combating TIP, briefed on the TIP trends and statistics, as well as the state actions taken to address vulnerabilities to exploitation. She highlighted the fruitfulness of cooperation with UNODC in furthering criminal justice response to TIP and promotion of exchange of best practices in dealing with trafficking cases.

Activities carried out in the first quarter of 2023 by PGO were introduced to participants by Rustam Musaev, Senior Prosecutor of the International Legal Department of PGO. He updated, among others, on organized workshops related to peculiarities of investigation of TIP cases and exercising oversight over investigations of TIP cases.

Utkir Soatov, representative of the Supreme Court, briefed the participants on the TIP cases considered by courts in the first quarter of 2023 and conveyed gratitude to UNODC expressed by judges, who participated in the regional workshop on adjudication of TIP, as well as confirmed a strong commitment of the Supreme Court to prompting anti-trafficking efforts.

The coordination meeting provided an opportunity to discuss ways and strategies to strengthen partnerships in combating TIP, increasing outreach of activities, and sharing the results of conducted research and analysis conducted by the coordination meeting members. 

Following the discussions, the parties agreed to continue fostering the informal platform of responsible counter-TIP stakeholders in the country and organize regular quarterly coordination meetings. The next coordination meeting is agreed to be held on 20 June 2023 .

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The multi-stakeholder counter-TIP coordination meetings initiative was launched in February 2022 as a platform to unite government authorities, donors, international and non-governmental organizations for more sustainable and efficient coordination of counter-TIP efforts supported by international organizations and donors. This initiative is organized within the framework of the UNODC Global Programme against TIP under the financial support of INL.

For further information please contact:

Arifa Fatikhova 

Communications and External Relations Officer

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 

Regional Office for Central Asia

Mobile: (+998 99) 825-05-43 | Email: arifa.fatikhova[at]un.org