On July 19, 2022, the U.S. Department of State released annual assessment report on measures taken by countries against human trafficking around the world.
According to the published report, Georgia is on highest level of evaluation among countries fighting against human trafficking, and remains on Tier 1, meaning that country fully meets standards for the elimination of human trafficking.
The report positively assesses the legislative amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia, which allows Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) to provide victims of trafficking with the support of the Witness and Victim Coordinator Service. According to the aforementioned document, witness and victim coordinators of the Ministry of Internal Affairs are authorized to be involved in the case from the moment criminal investigation is launched. Hereby, during the reporting period, the witness and victim coordinators of the MIA and the Prosecutor’s Office provided assistance to 8 victims and 10 witnesses of human trafficking.
The report emphasizes the existence of number of specialized anti-trafficking units in the country, including the Division for Combatting Human Trafficking and Irregular Migration established under the MIA Central Criminal Police Department and 6 mobile units operating under the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The report further underlines the work of the specialized “Task Force” group formed by specialized prosecutors and investigators and functioning in the Adjara Region.
The report positively evaluates the renewal of the Memorandum between the Central Criminal Police Department of the MIA and Labour Inspection Office, which aims to detect cases of forced labor by conducting the joint inspections by mobile units of MIA and units of the Labour Inspection Office.
The published report once again positively assesses the existence of the hotline of the MIA for combatting the human trafficking, where calls regarding the trafficking can be made.
The report also emphasizes that all police cadets receive basic training on trafficking issues. It further indicates that with the financial and technical support of international organizations, trainings of investigators, members of mobile units, border police officers, prosecutors, labour inspectors, as well as, witness and victim coordinators on various anti-trafficking issues were conducted.
The document also outlines the fact that the Georgian authorities lack opportunity to implement anti-trafficking measures in the occupied territories.
Traditionally, the report is accompanied by the recommendations issued by the U.S. State Department to combat trafficking in human beings and improve the protection of victims.
