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Azerbaijan is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking, according to a recent US Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2015 http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/245365.pdf presented by Secretary of State John Kerry.

Azerbaijan is in Tier 2 in the report. This means that the government does not fully comply with the Trafficking Victims Protection Act’s minimum standards. Armenia is in Tier 1, as its government fully complies with those standards.

“Azerbaijani men and boys have been subjected to forced labor in Turkey, Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Azerbaijan. Women and children from Azerbaijan have been subjected to sex trafficking within the country and in Turkey, Russia, and the UAE. Azerbaijan is a destination country for sex and labor trafficking victims from China, Russia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Some migrant workers from Turkey and other countries in Europe and South and Central Asia are subjected to forced labor in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan was used as a transit country for victims of sex and labor trafficking from Central Asia to the UAE, Turkey, and Iran in previous years,” the report reads.

Within the country, some children, particularly those of Romani descent, are subjected to forced begging and forced labor as roadside vendors and at tea houses and wedding facilities. Filipina victims subjected to domestic servitude in Azerbaijan is an emerging problem, according to the report.

“The Government of Azerbaijan does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking,” the experts from the Department of State note in the report. They point that the government failed to provide adequate and consistent financial support to NGO partners that provide rehabilitation and reintegration services to victims.

Widespread corruption in Azerbaijan hindered anti-trafficking efforts. Civil society groups continued to report law enforcement bodies did not adequately investigate accusations of forced labor in the construction sector for fear of recrimination by influential figures, including government officials, the report says.

On January 29 2015, at the White House Forum on Combating Human Trafficking in Supply Chains, John Kerry said, “Money may be able to buy a lot of things, but it should never, ever be able to buy another human being.”

Related:
Armenia in Tier 1, according to U.S. State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2015
US Department of State: Trafficking and forced begging of children widespread in Azerbaijan with authorities remaining corrupt