Women’s Informational Centre

Responses to Trafficking in Persons in Georgia: An Assessment

Tbilisi 2007

The assessment has been conducted between May and December 2007 within the framework of the project “Research of phenomenon of trafficking in human beings in Georgia” implemented with the financial support of the OSCE Mission to Georgia by Women’s Information Centre (Georgia) under leadership of Ms. Helen Rusetsky. The assessment has been prepared with the support of OSCE experts Ms. Alexandra Delemenchuk (Ukraine) and Dr. Blanka Hancilova (Apreco Group, Austria).

Authors: Alexandra Delemenchuk – external adviser of the Women’s Information Centre Blanka Hancilova – OSCE Expert (Apreco Group, [email protected]) Helen Rusetsky – Coordinator of the Women’s Information Centre

Women’s Information Center 40 Tsinamdzgvrishvili str., Tbilisi 0102 Georgia + 995 32 952934 [email protected] www.wicge.org

Views and terminology expressed in this publication do not necessarily imply endorsement by the OSCE.

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Table of Contents

I. Acknowledgements

II. List of Abbreviations

III. Executive summary

1. Introduction 1.1. Research methodology

2. Overview of the anti-trafficking action in Georgia

3. Description of the National Referral Mechanism

4. Policy recommendations

Annex 1 List of the conducted interviews

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Acknowledgements

Authors would like to thank to all agencies, organizations and experts who made their contributed to this report. We also want to acknowledge kind support of Ms. Ia Dadunashvili, Ms. Nino Gogoladze and the OSCE Mission to Georgia team for their inputs.

List of Abbreviations

ABA/ROL – American Bar Association, Rule of Law Initiative EU - European Union GEL – Georgian Lari GYLA - Georgian Young Lawyers Association IO - International Organization IOM - International Organization for Migration MFA – Ministry of Foreign Affairs NGO - Non-governmental Organization NPA - National Plan of Action NRM – National Referral Mechanism OSCE - Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe TiHB - Trafficking in Human Beings UAE - United Arab Emirates UN - United Nation US - United States of America USAID - United States Agency for International Development VoT – Victim of Trafficking

4 Executive summary

Presented assessment is a policy-oriented study of responses to trafficking in persons with special focus on the following issues: • Mechanisms for evaluation and monitoring within the national response mechanisms such as the National Referral Mechanism for trafficked persons (NRM) and for the implementation of the National Plan of Action (NPA); • Coordination between various parts of the NRM, other stakeholders and civil society groups; • Implementation of the NPA: progress and possible areas of concern; • Existing informational needs within the different groups of the stakeholders and identification of the existing sources of data; • Existing gaps in the legal base and law enforcement mechanisms; • Identification and referral of trafficked persons and their access to justice.

The assessment was based on a combination of qualitative methodologies, drawing on the substantial contribution of qualitative research – that is culturally-specific and contextually rich data. It was carried out between June and December 2007 by the authors.

5 Introduction

Present report explores the state responses to trafficking in human beings between 2000 and 2007. It aims at documenting the achievements and identifying the gaps in current anti- trafficking response.

Georgia is a source and transit country of the victims of trafficking. Girls and women are primarily trafficked to the UAE and Turkey for the purpose of sexual exploitation, whereas girls and women from Ukraine, Moldova, the Russian Federation and other former Soviet states are trafficked through Georgia to Turkey, Greece and the UAE and Western Europe. Men are mainly trafficked for the purpose of forced labour. At the same time, victims are trafficked to the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia for forced labour1.

In the recent years Georgian institutions are increasingly taking ownership in combating trafficking in human beings. In particular they have moved on establishing the National Referral Mechanism for victims of trafficking. The Georgian government adopted several National Action Plans to combat trafficking in human beings, established victim-oriented National Referral Mechanism, and relevant institutions to coordinate the activities in the field and support assistance and reintegration of victims of trafficking.

The report reviews and assesses the steps taken with the aim to identify lessons learned and shortcomings of the responses undertaken up-to-date and in order to inform the agenda setting and in particular the development of the National Action Plan for 2009-2010.

It is clear that the Government of Georgia is dynamically undertaking measures to suppress trafficking in persons in Georgia and for the purpose of prevention of this crime to conduct respective wide public awareness campaign. To meet the requirements of the well-known “three Ps:” Prevention, Protection and Prosecution, active measures have been taken both at the legislative and executive levels in order to prevent and suppress trafficking in persons.

At the same time, despite numerous achievements, the researchers encountered difficulties in collecting information from state agencies and thy noted that coordination with NGOs was at times absent. Also, it seems that in some cases, law-enforcement agencies, failed to adopt a human rights approach to trafficked persons. Finally, mechanisms to access and identify trafficked persons are not sufficiently developed, as are strategies for long-term support of victims of trafficking and their reintegration.

The research paper is divided into three thematic sections. The first section focuses on the overview of the anti-trafficking action in Georgia, which sets the framework in which the national action plans were designed and legislative framework was created. The second section focuses on the description of the National Referral Mechanisms and the functions of the institutions constituting part of the NRM. The third section draws conclusions and proposes possible policy recommendations to be considered while planning future actions in the field.

1 Trafficking in Persons Report, US Department of State, Office of the Under Secretary for Democratic and Global affairs and Bureau of Public Affairs, June 2007 6 Research methodology

The present assessment is a policy-oriented study of responses to trafficking in persons with special focus on the following issues: • Mechanisms for evaluation and monitoring within the national response mechanisms such as the National Referral Mechanism for trafficked persons NRM; • Coordination between various parts of the NRM, other stakeholders and civil society groups; • Implementation of the NPA: progress and possible areas of concern; • Existing informational needs within the different groups of the stakeholders and identification of the existing sources of data; • Existing gaps in the legal base and law enforcement mechanisms; • Identification and referral of trafficked persons and their access to justice.

The research methods used were: • Field work of the invited experts in Georgia. The respective missions each lasted 10 working days; • Document review and analysis. The desk research focused on two main areas: (1) study of available project documents, implemented by various organizations (including Georgian Young Lawyers Association, Article 42 of the Constitution, Antiviolence Network of Georgia, “Tanadgoma”, and others) reports, national action plans, media coverage, project evaluations and (2) study of relevant legislation.2 This research was carried out before, during and after field visits; • Key informant interviews with international organizations, NGOs, and state authorities; • Comparative analysis of interventions to combat human trafficking conducted by various agencies, including civil society-based and government-based; • Stakeholder feedback to this report.

Direct access was not sought with persons subjected to exploitation for two main reasons: (1) it would have required an extensive field presence; (2) the organisations that are in contact with persons subjected to exploitation do not grant access to victims and in general do not share their data such as victim profiles, citing the need for confidentiality and prevention of re-traumatisation.

2 The legal expert engaged under this project reviewed and analyzed the following legal documents: Law of Georgia “On Combating Trafficking”, Criminal Code of Georgia, Criminal-Procedural Code of Georgia, Civil Code of Georgia, Civil-Procedural Code of Georgia, Administrative Code of Georgia, “National Action Plan for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings”, “Rules of Procedure of the Interagency Council on Combating Trafficking”, “Rules of Procedure of the State Fund on Trafficking Victims Assistance and Protection”. Analysis was aimed at the outlining of the possible contradictions and gaps in the given documents and bringing in recommendations on amendments and improvements to the mentioned above documents regulating functioning of the NRM and anti-trafficking action in the country. 7 Overview of the Anti-Trafficking Actions in Georgia

The first Georgian legislation mentioning trafficking in human beings is the Decree Nr. 64, issued by President E. Shevardnadze in February 2000, by which the “Plan for combating the abuse of women (for the years 2000-2002)” was adopted. The plan contained a point on trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. According to the plan, several ministries were instructed to register cases of trafficking in women for sexual exploitation and to develop assistance programs for them. Relevant authorities were urged to cooperate and coordinate activities with each other and NGOs in order to combat the problem.

The Plan, coordinated and evaluated by the Department of Human Rights Protection of the National Security Council, did not result in any significant increase of government-run counter-trafficking programs3. Despite scattered and short-lived activities by the Parliament of Georgia and a number of NGOs, the Government failed to implement the counter- trafficking clause to any significant extent.

The Presidential Decree 240 of 17 May 2002, “On Strengthening the Measures of Protection of Human Rights in Georgia”, called for the establishment of a governmental counter-trafficking policy. It also instructed the Ministry of Justice to draft amendments to the Criminal Code which qualify trafficking in human beings as a punishable act and to develop appropriate sanctions within six months of the decree’s entry into force. By the autumn 2002, the Ministry of Justice presented a first draft of the “Law on Amendments to the Criminal Code of Georgia”, consisting of a new generic article on trafficking in persons and a change in Article 172 regarding trafficking in minors.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s only a few government agencies were active in dealing with trafficking-related problems. The State Department of Tourism and Resorts of Georgia and the State Anti-Monopoly Service of Georgia, for example, united in February 2001 in an effort to establish control over the operation of tourism firms by proposing a registration and licensing system. This was relevant from a counter-trafficking perspective, as past IOM research on trafficking in Georgia (2000, 2001)4 has shown that many so-called travel agencies served as disguises for traffickers and smugglers attempting to lure people abroad. The licensing proposal encountered resistance from a number of other government agencies and was stalled when the Parliament also opposed it. The main argument used by the opponents was that a licensing system might open the way for abuse by corrupt officials. At the same time, the opposition did not propose any alternative control mechanism to monitor the operations of private employment agencies.

One of the essential elements of existing legislation was the Presidential Decree 15 of 17 January 2003, “On the Approval of the Action Plan to Combat Trafficking (2003-2004)”. The Legal Committee of the Parliament of Georgia dedicated a separate hearing to the issue of trafficking in March 2002. As a result, a short resolution calling on to the Government of Georgia to ratify the UN Trafficking Protocol and to bring Georgian legislation in agreement with the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and its supplementary acts before 1 May 2002 was adopted by the Parliament. Until the adoption

3 According to the representatives of the NGOs (interviews with AVNG, GYLA and “Tanadgoma”) 4 Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Migrants: the Case of Georgia. Report prepared by the International Organization for Migration, Tbilisi, September 2000

8 of the new law in June 2003, the Parliament did not undertake any actions based on the resolution.

While the draft of the amendments to the Criminal Code was disseminated among other relevant government agencies, the Ministry of Justice also gave local NGOs and international organizations the opportunity to comment. Most comments (including those of ABA/ROL, IOM and OSCE) emphasized that the definition of trafficking in persons was not fully in compliance with the internationally adopted definition stipulated in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention. The Ministry of Justice incorporated some suggested changes. The Parliament unanimously voted to enact the revisions to the Criminal Code at the 6 June 2003 plenary session.

The adopted definition of trafficking was: “Buying or selling or making other illicit transaction in relation to a human being, also recruiting, transferring, harbouring or receipt of a person, by means of coercion, blackmail and deception with the purpose of exploitation”. Exploitation was defined in an endnote to Article 143 as: “The use of a person, with the intention to engage her/him in forced labour, involve her/him in criminal or other anti-social activity, in prostitution or in other types of services, or for the purpose of transplanting or other use of a person’s organ, part of organ or tissue. Putting persons into slave conditions shall mean depriving them of identification documents, restricting their freedom of movement, prohibition of links with their families, correspondence and telephone contacts, also their cultural isolation and the coercion of work in humiliating conditions and/or with no adequate reimbursement.”

These revisions improved the existing legislation, but they still did not encompass all elements of the trafficking process as defined in the UN Trafficking Protocol5. The concept of “buying, selling or other illicit transaction in relation to a human being” in the general definition was vague and led to interpretation problems during prosecution and trial. Other shortcomings were in the list of intents and means. The concept of transportation was not mentioned in the general definition, and there was no explicit reference to the use of threat or force, or to abduction, fraud, and the abuse of power or vulnerability in the list of means. Other articles of the Criminal Code covered some of these crimes. However, including all purposes and means in the generic trafficking article would more effectively facilitate prosecution of suspected traffickers.

Towards Unified Trafficking Legislation

Despite the positive developments in Georgia regarding the adoption of specific legislation criminalizing trafficking in persons, there was an obvious need for general counter- trafficking legislation, uniting previously issued presidential decrees and detailing the responsibilities of each governmental agency involved. Several agencies, most importantly the National Security Council and the Ministry of Justice, acknowledged that such a general law on anti-trafficking was required.

5 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the UN Convention 9 Another problem in the early years of development of national anti-trafficking response was low resource allocation, which hindered the implementation of a high-cost program, such as assistance to victims of trafficking. For example, the 2003 budget of the Government of Georgia did not envisage any expenditure for the implementation of the counter-trafficking action plan adopted by the President of Georgia.

In August 2003, at the initiative of local NGO Georgian Young Lawyers Association (GYLA) with financial support of the OSCE Mission to Georgia, a working group was established to draft a comprehensive counter-trafficking law. National Security Council and the Ministry of Justice and the International Organization for Migration’s Migration Agency in Georgia alongside with the implementing NGO started drafting this law, which was supposed to be adopted in 2003.

Counter-Trafficking Action Plan (2003 – 2004)

A draft of the National Plan of Action was disseminated among all relevant governmental institutions and a number of local NGOs. Their comments were incorporated and forwarded to the President for signature. The National Plan of Action identified five different fields of action: 1) Taking legislative measures to ensure human rights protection of trafficking victims, especially members of the most vulnerable groups (women, adolescents and children); 2) Preventing trafficking by means of information dissemination and training of government officials, social workers and journalists; 3) Providing assistance to trafficking victims; 4) Prosecuting the perpetrators of trafficking and creating a victim protection system; 5) Monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the action plan on a systematic basis.

Each field of action contained specific guidelines, usually specifying in detail the nature of the activity to be implemented, the actors responsible for the activity and the timeframe within which the activity should have been carried out. The Plan mentions 15 state institutions as implementing partners, along with NGOs and mass media which also played a role in trafficking prevention. The Human Rights Protection Department of the National Security Council is supposed to overview the implementation of the National Plan of Action.

The adoption of the Plan was a major step forward in the fight against trafficking in persons, as it detailed a considerable number of important activities that needed to be implemented in Georgia, as well as the agencies accountable for these activities.

In May 2003, the National Security Council announced the creation of an Inter-Ministerial Working Group, chaired by the Deputy Secretary of the National Security Council and further consisting of the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Education, Culture, Health, Labour and Social Welfare, as well as the Deputy Prosecutor, the Deputy Head of the State Border Guards and the Head of the Counter-Trafficking Unit of the Ministry of Interior. This working group was officially presented at a round-table meeting organized in June 2003 by the National Security Council and the Public Defender’s Office in cooperation with IOM. The roundtable’s participants agreed to create an inter-agency working group at the executive level to steer the implementation of the National Action Plan. The number of government implemented counter-trafficking activities increased after

10 this meeting, although this increase was probably also affected by the US Department of State’s negative assessment earlier that month

The plan identified a number of points of action that were not as relevant to counter- trafficking issues or only partially addressed the roots of the problem. For example, as a means of preventing trafficking, the plan stipulated that the Ministry of Culture was to “establish strict control over art groups and ensembles travelling abroad to avoid including undesired persons.” The plan applied the confusing terminology of “sex tourism”, which according to a National Security Council official refers to trafficking persons abroad for forced sex under the guise of tourism. The plan failed to explain this interpretation, which differs from the internationally accepted one.

At the same time, the Plan had several shortcomings. For example, the most action points that mentioned more than one responsible agency did not identify which agency should have taken the lead in a particular activity. This had led to certain lack of coordination and increased chance of duplication of activities, or even conflict of initiatives.

The National Plan of Action for Combating Trafficking in Persons (2005-2006)

On December 29, 2004, the President of Georgia approved the Action Plan against Trafficking (2005-2006) and to ensure the efficient implementation of this plan, established an ad hoc Interagency Commission against Trafficking under the auspices of the National Security Council of Georgia.

The Inter-Agency Commission consisted of representatives of the following agencies and institutions (in alphabetical order):

1) National Security Council; 2) Ministry of Education and Sciences; 3) Special Office of Foreign Intelligence; 4) Department of Border Guards; 5) Parliament of Georgia, Committee of Human Rights and Civil Integration; Committee - Parliament; 6) Ombudsman’s Office; 7) Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association; 8) Open Society Georgia Foundation; 9) People’s Harmonious Development Society; 10) Human Dimensions Office - OSCE Mission to Georgia; 11) International Organization for Migration; 12) Prosecutor General’s Office; 13) Ministry of Internal Affairs; 14) National Interpol Bureau; 15) Ministry of Justice; 16) Ministry of Foreign Affairs; 17) Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security; 18) Ministry of Economic Development; 19) Ministry of Finance;

The Inter-Agency Commission had the following goals: 11 a) To draft proposals regarding effective anti-trafficking activities and the ways of eliminating the factors stimulating trafficking and to present these proposals to the National Security Council of Georgia; b) To submit to the President the proposals regarding the amendment of the legislation pursuant to the anti-trafficking Action Plan for 2005-2006 and enforcement of international treaties; c) To prepare a full list of international and regional treaties and agreements concerning trafficking for presentation at the session of the National Security Council and to draft proposals on the expediency of Georgia’s joining these documents; d) To prepare analytical reports on the condition of Georgian migrants seeking employment and human rights for presentation before the session of the National Security Council and to work out proposals on the improvement of the migrants’ condition; e) To discuss the issues related to trafficking in close cooperation with the NGO sector, and international and local organizations dealing with trafficking in order to work out joint proposals for submission to the President; f) To submit to the President proposals on illegal labour emigration, also on the establishment and strengthening of anti-trafficking institutional mechanisms; g) To monitor the situation with regard to illegal labour migration and anti-trafficking activities; h) To submit to the National Security Council information on the activities performed during the year; i) To study the information prescribed by the action plan, and based on this information, prepare respective reports for submission to the National Security Council.

The National Plan of Action (2005-2006) consisted of seven major objectives:

The first objective of the NPA referred to the legal regulation of the labour migration related issue with a view to eliminating favourable conditions for human trafficking. The Government of Georgia foresaw the following goals for implementing this objective, i.e.; the development of a relevant contractual basis to address labour migration issues, and the elaboration and enforcement of a relevant legislative framework.

As Georgia did not have a law on labour migration thus, the strategy included: drafting and submission to the Parliament the Law on Labour Migration, elaboration of bilateral agreements on readmission; conduction of negotiations with the respective countries, as well as the elaboration of bilateral agreements with the countries of final destination on the creation of legislative guarantees for legal labour and allocation of labour quotas; elaboration of a proposal on the accession to the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families; preparation of a full list of international and regional agreements and treaties on the problem of trafficking and 12 elaboration of proposals for Georgia’s accession to these instruments; as well as preparation of periodical analytical reports on the state of Georgian labour migrants and on the protection of their human rights at the country of final destination, including recommendations aimed at improving their position there.

According to the NPA, the implementing bodies were the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia and the Ministry of Justice of Georgia as well as interested NGOs.

Solving the problem of labour migration was very important because if in case of Turkey Georgia faces a problem of sexual exploitation, and for example in case of Greece, there is a problem of labour exploitation. These needed to be regulated.

The second objective of the NPA referred to the improvement of the existing legislative bases on combating trafficking in persons. As already mentioned above, the Government of Georgia made significant changes in this respect. The law on combating trafficking was adopted in April 2006, which came into force a month after. In this case, cooperation between the Government of Georgia and other actors such as international organizations and local NGOs was especially noteworthy.

The third part of the NPA talked about raising public awareness of irregular labour migration and trafficking in persons. According to the NPA, this objective should have been met with the help of the following strategies and parties involved: planning and implementation of information and educational activities, including the provision of information on legal schemes of employment and study abroad, conduction of special trainings on trafficking-related problems for target groups such as judges, employees of consular departments, police and prosecutor’s office, border guards, social workers, journalists and health care professionals. This objective also sets forth putting trafficking related issues into the national educational curriculum to give information to high school and undergraduate students, as well as training of teachers. The parties involved in implementing this activity are a number of Ministries including the Ministry of Education and local NGOs, as well as international organizations......

The fourth objective of the NPA envisaged the evaluation of the scale of the problem of irregular labour migration and trafficking in persons. For the achievement of this objective, the government of Georgia identified several strategies. Creation of an integrated data base on physical and legal persons found guilty of and/or punished for organizing and/or assisting irregular labour migration and/or offences involving trafficking in persons.

As mentioned in the first part of the report, one of the problems with effective fighting against trafficking rests in the non-existence of any systems of information exchange between the countries of origin, transit and final destination. So the Government of Georgia identified the strengthening of regular contacts and cooperation between these countries with a view to prevent the facts of trafficking, and providing for the return of victims to the countries of origin and ensuring their safety.

Taking into consideration the international character of trafficking in human beings, it was vital to include diplomatic missions and embassies in anti-trafficking activities, thus, the

13 NPA included this problem in the terms of reference of officers of Georgia’s diplomatic representations operating in the countries showing an increased risk in terms of trafficking.

The fifth objective of the NPA talked about the protection and rehabilitation of victims of trafficking in persons. For this reason, the government envisaged the development and implementation of the system of support for victims of trafficking, as well as the identification of gaps and shortcomings in legislation, policies and assistance services, while taking into account gender specificities in the risk groups.

Particularly, this part of NPA referred to the creation of certain measures for creating the National Referral Mechanism for the protection of the victims of trafficking. Thus, the strategies of the NPA passed on the elaboration and implementation of the Code of Conduct (code of ethics) for law enforcement officers and prosecutor’s office agencies in the process of investigation of trafficking-related crimes in line with internationally existing standards in this field. At the same time, the NPA paid a great deal of attention to the creation of shelters for the victims of trafficking. In this respect, certain steps have been made from government and international organizations.

Consequently, one state shelter was opened in Batumi in 2006 with the financial support of USAID. The state provided premises for the shelter and USAID allocated funds to fully equip it. It is estimated that within three years, the state will entirely own the shelter and take the full responsibility for its effective operation. The second shelter was opened in 2007 in Tbilisi.

The sixth objective of the NPA maintained that the creation and strengthening of the mechanisms against irregular labour migration and trafficking in persons needs to be achieved. This objective was met with the establishment of an independent anti-trafficking unit at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.

And, finally, the seventh objective of the NPA foresaw the monitoring of the situation in the sphere of combating trafficking and irregular migration.

This part of the NPA included the following strategies: establishment of indicators for the identification of potential victims of trafficking with a view to facilitate the elaboration of trafficking prevention measures, presenting information to the Office of the National Security Council of Georgia on the work performed during the reporting year; preparing a report to be submitted to the National Security Council; and finally, cooperating with NGOs that are active in the field of counter-trafficking and irregular migration and involving them in the monitoring process in order to find effective ways of solving the problem of trafficking.

Generally speaking, the role of NGOs in the implementation of the NPAs is a complex issue because it is related to understanding the role of civil society in a democratic society. This makes the position of NGOs difficult in the newly established political systems. For example, despite their experience, expertise and high esteem in which their work is held, NGOs in South East Europe were not often included in the groups developing NPAs and did not participate on an equal footing with other partners on National Committees. Very often, the role of NGOs is limited to implementing their own small scale projects funded by international organizations.

14 National Plan of Action for Combating Trafficking in Persons (2007-2008)

This third and current Plan of Action reflects, on the one hand, progress made and gaps identified in national and international assessments of Georgia’s performance over the last year. On the other hand, it seeks to harmonize the structure of Georgia’s national anti- trafficking response with the recommendations of international partners, and the emerging practice of Georgia’s regional neighbours.

As previously, this National Plan of Action is based on the following guiding principles:

• Government ownership, • Civil society participation, • Human rights based treatment of victims • Interdisciplinary coordination and cross-sector responses at government level, and between government, IOs and NGOs;

In terms of progress made, the Plan of Action reflects the progress Georgia made by passing anti-trafficking legislation to latest international standards - including Criminal Code Amendments.

National Referral Mechanism for the improved protection and referral of victims is developed. Georgia has also continued to improve its interdiction capacities at main border crossing points, as well as participating actively with neighbouring and other host countries in developing intelligence, law enforcement and judicial cooperation.

Also there are some continuing weaknesses and gaps, which this Plan of Action seeks to address. These relate particularly to poor cooperation between police and prosecution, as well as the need for greater government, as opposed to NGO–led, initiative in the areas of protection and prevention. As regards the latter, the Plan reflects the Government’s recognition of its own responsibility for promoting greater social inclusion and alternatives to illegal migration and trafficking through a combination of poverty reduction, gender equality, and educational and employment-creating initiatives.

The Plan also stresses the importance of early practical implementation of recently enacted legislative initiatives, and of sustainable trafficking awareness and capacity building training for police and other state officials.

The Plan of Action establishes realistic timelines and output indicators designed to enable substantial and measurable progress to be made within the two-year validity of the Plan. It is nonetheless recognized that the institutional challenges implicit in many of the proposed actions may require a longer timescale to be fully implemented, even though most activities can still be progressed effectively within stated time lines.

However in view of the researches systematic evaluation and sustainability component should be added, as far as there are no mechanisms for the actual evaluations and implementation of the lessons learnt which is very important while making the first steps of the successful anti-trafficking action.

15 Assessment by other actors suggests that there are important areas in which anti-trafficking actions should improve.

According to the 2007 report published by the US State Department on the situation of trafficking of persons in Georgia, law enforcement responses to trafficking was mixed in 2005 and 2006. The government increased its arrests and investigations, but failed to show significant progress in convicting and sentencing traffickers. The government investigated 28 cases in 2006, compared with 27 in 2005. Authorities prosecuted 16 cases, up from nine cases in 2005. There were 19 convictions of traffickers in 2006, up from nine convictions in 2005. The government eliminated its use of suspended sentences and toughened sentences imposed on traffickers in 2006. Traffickers received sentences ranging from 4 to 15 years' imprisonment, with an average of 10 years. In response to allegations of forced labour in Kodori Gorge, the government assembled a response team to determine the scope of the problem and launched a criminal investigation into seven cases. Although there were no specific cases of officials complicit in trafficking, the government tackled trafficking- related corruption by investigating and prosecuting 12 cases of passport fraud, convicting five officials with an average sentence of two years6.

When it comes to the protection of victims of trafficking, the Government of Georgia failed to provide adequate protection and assistance to trafficking victims in 2005; however it made significant steps towards improving the situation in 2006. The Law on the Fight against Trafficking in Persons provides for the creation of the State Fund for Protection and Support of Victims of Trafficking. The functions of the Fund include: protection, assistance and rehabilitation of the victims of trafficking by assigning them the status of a victim of trafficking (VoT); providing shelter and giving them a compensation of up to 1000 GEL.

In trafficking preventive measures, the Government of Georgia, still greatly depends on the anti-trafficking activities carried out by local NGOs and international organizations, however, in 2006 the President assigned the leading anti-trafficking activities to the Prosecutor General’s Office and appointed the Prosecutor General to chair the Institutional Mechanism - State Interagency Coordination Council on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

6 Trafficking in Persons Report Released by the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons June 12, 2007 16 Description of the National Referral Mechanism (NRM)

The NRM in Georgia is codified in the Law on Trafficking in persons. The NRM was put into operation in 2006. The NRM represents detailed guidelines for the effective cooperation of the state agencies, local NGOs and international organizations in the fight against trafficking in human beings. The NRM describes in an easily understandable manner all issues related to a victim of trafficking from the moment a person claims to be a victim of trafficking to the moment when the victim of trafficking, if he/she so wishes, safely returns to the country of origin. The NRM is a certain form of the commentary of the Georgian anti-trafficking legislation and establishes regulations envisaged by the Law more precise.

The NRM envisages the protection of persons subjected to TIHB, who do not wish to cooperate with the law enforcement bodies due to cultural or any other personal reasons (unwillingness to tell the story to the family, etc.). For those cases, the NRM provides for the possibility of granting a status of TIHB victim to an alleged victim through the Permanent Group, established by the Inter-Agency Coordination Council. The Permanent Group is composed of representatives of the state, as well as non-governmental and international organizations, and decides the granting of a status to a victim based on the questionnaire, which can be filled in either by the mobile group created under the auspices of the State Fund for the Protection and Assistance of Trafficking Victims or by the Permanent Group itself. The Permanent Group may give the status of a TIHB victim, which is different from the status of a statutory victim, i.e. a person identified as a victim of a crime in accordance with the criminal procedural legislation. However, the persons granted the status of a victim by the Permanent Group fall under the state protection mechanism, and they can be accommodated in the shelter and enjoy other benefits provided by the Law.

One of the principles on which the National Referral Mechanism operates is the principle of confidentiality of the identification data of victims of human trafficking. All persons (Special Mobile Group, Permanent Group, administration of shelters, etc.) that are involved in this process are obliged to keep all the relevant data secret.

State Actors

The State Inter-Agency Coordination Council on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings consists of representatives of the following agencies:

State Actors (in alphabetical order)

Ministry of Education and Sciences; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Ministry of Justice; Ministry of Internal Affairs; Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Security; Prosecutor General’s Office; Ombudsmen’s Office;

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NGOs and International Organizations (in alphabetical order)

NGO Georgian Young Lawyer’s Association NGO Tanadgoma NGO Anti-Violence Network of Georgia; NGO Women for Future International Organization for Migration (IOM) International Labour Organization (ILO) OSCE Mission to Georgia (OSCE) UNICEF USAID

In July 2006, on the basis of the Law on TIHB, President of Georgia established the State Inter-Agency Coordination Council for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for the effective implementation of the National Action Plan.

The Coordination Council serves as an overall coordinator of anti-trafficking measures undertaken by state agencies; the Council is an advisory body preparing certain recommendations for the President of Georgia on the issue of trafficking and a body monitoring the anti-trafficking situation in Georgia. National NGOs and international organizations are actively involved in the work of the Council. The Council meets at least once every three months.

The State Fund for Protection of and Support to (Statutory) Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings was established on the basis of the Law on TIHB. A director of the State Fund was appointed by the Presidential Decree of May 25, 2006, and the Statute of the State Fund was adopted by the Presidential Order N437 on July 18, 2006. The State Fund functions under the supervision of the Ministry of Labour, Health and Social Welfare.

The State Fund provides for the payment of compensation to victims of trafficking and finances their protection, assistance and rehabilitation measures. The Compensation amounts to 1,000 GEL per victim.

The Law also ensured creation of the institution providing services for the TIHB victims (the shelter). The first shelter started functioning in summer of 2006. The Government of Adjara Region donated the building in the Region where the first shelter is located. The building was renovated and equipped with the support of the USAID and GYLA. The second shelter for the victims of trafficking in human beings was established in Tbilisi in 2007.

The Law on TIHB provides that there may be a “victim of TIHB”, i.e. a person, identified as a victim of this crime, who incurred moral, physical or material damage and who is recognized as a TIHB victim by the Permanent Group created at the Interagency Coordination Council. Thus, there may be human beings, recognized as “TIHB victims” by the Permanent Group, who shall be distinguished from the “statutory victims of TIHB”, i.e. persons, who are willing to reveal their cases to the law enforcement bodies and are recognized as TIHB victims in accordance with Georgian criminal legislation.

18 The person shall be placed in the shelter only if the status of victim of human trafficking in human beings is granted to him/her either by the law enforcement bodies or by the Permanent Group, and only on the basis of his/her consent.

The victim of trafficking in human beings may be placed in the shelter despite his/her decision to cooperate or not with the law-enforcement authorities in the proceedings conducted into the crime in question.

The existing TIHB shelter functions with the State Fund for Protection of and Assistance to the Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings as its structural element. Additionally, any natural or legal person is entitled to establish a shelter as a private non-profit legal person.

Any such shelters must meet the standards established by the Georgian legislation.

The Shelter provides the following services: a. Secure place of residence with decent living conditions; b. Food and clothes; c. Medical assistance; d. Psychological counselling; e. Legal assistance and court representation (including filing complaints, appearing in court proceedings as a witness, requesting asylum, obtaining documents for returning to the country of origin). f. Information in the language the victim understands; provision, where required, of the assistance of a lawyer; g. Long-term and short-term programmes of rehabilitation and reintegration.

Funding of anti-trafficking activities

In 2006, 80,000 GEL were allocated from the State Budget for the State Fund to protect and assist victims of trafficking in human beings. The funding was allocated for the State Fund after adoption of the Law, i.e. in the middle of the year. In addition, 20,000 GEL were allocated for the psycho-social rehabilitation program for victims of trafficking. This Programme covered medical and ambulance treatment. Moreover, 2 emergency operations of victims of trafficking were covered by the referral program of the Ministry in 2006.

The budget of the Fund for 2007 amounts to 300,000 GEL. The amount provided includes one-off compensation 1,000 GEL provided by the State Fund to the victims of trafficking in human beings.

Elaboration of Programmes of Assistance and Reintegration of (Statutory) Victims of Trafficking in Human beings

The Georgian Government's National Action Plan on the Fight against Trafficking in Human Beings devotes particular attention to the elaboration and effective implementation of the programmes directed towards assistance to and reintegration of victims of trafficking in human beings. The special programme on reintegration was elaborated in 2007.

19 Investigative and Prosecutorial Agencies:

1. Ministry of Internal Affairs a) Special Operative Department’s Unit against Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration; Until May 2005, Investigation of TIHB was undertaken by three agencies – Ministry of Interior, Ministry of State Security and the Prosecutor’s Office. In May 2005, upon amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code, investigative functions have been undertaken by Ministry of Internal Affairs, where the Special Operative Department’s Unit #5 Against Human Trafficking and Illegal Migration have been established. The Unit consists of 30 persons, out of which there are 4 investigators and 26 operative staff, and among them 17 persons are working in the territorial offices of the Ministry. The main function of this Unit is combating human trafficking and illegal migration and pre-trial investigation of these offences. At this moment anti-trafficking unit has 19 cases in investigation. b) National Interpol Bureau in Georgia As trafficking is a crime which most frequently contains an international element, functions of the National Interpol Bureau as of structural unit of Ministry of Internal Affairs and a member of the General Interpol Agency are relevant to effective investigation: • to support permanent contact with General Interpol Agency and National Bureaus of other countries; • to collaborate and coordinate Georgian law enforcement agencies and other relevant units with competent offices of other countries to combat crime on international level; • to compare information about crime on international scale.

National Interpol Bureau’s main principles are the rule of law and protection of Human Rights and Freedoms. The National Interpol Bureau’s role in case of combating human trafficking is highly important, because mostly this crime has transnational character, so its successful prosecution without coordination between national police agencies is very difficult, even impossible. Lack of coordination and collaboration is the most actual problem for investigative bodies and during the sessions of Anti-trafficking Interagency Commission, our attention was focused on this case.

2. General Prosecutor’s Office a) Department of Procedural Supervision on Prosecution in Public Security Offices of Ministry of Internal Affairs, Special Office of Foreign Intelligence and Ministry of Defence.

The main functions: • Procedural supervision on operative-detective activities and on pre-trial investigation; • To confirm the State accusation in court on those criminal cases, which have been investigated by abovementioned agencies;

Until amendment in Criminal Procedure Code, the first action in criminal procedure was initiation of criminal case, which was essential for beginning of pre-trial investigation. Investigation and prosecution of human trafficking was the Prosecutor’s prerogative. Ministry of Interior’s function was inquiring - which was the “beginning” level of pre-trial

20 investigation. Now initiation of criminal case and inquiring are which became as a main goal of Ministry of Internal Affairs. b) Department of Procedural Supervision on Prosecution in Ministry of Internal Affairs. Its functions are the same as Stated above) c) Department of Legal Support Unit of Human Rights Protection. They compare information about human trafficking and officially represent Prosecutor Generals’ office in this case. (Statute of this unit is not approved at this time, so we cannot definitely say which its official duties are.)

Within the framework of the National Plan of Action, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia organised a meeting with representatives of Ministries of Internal and Foreign Affairs related to the formation of the united database of the offenders (one of the goals set forward by the NPA).

On the basis of the analysis of such statistical data, in case of necessity Prosecutor General of Georgia may issue obligatory guidelines.

Current Anti-Trafficking Response and National Referral Mechanism

The NRM is based upon the following principles:

• Identification of Victims: a) Mechanism b) Procedures of Identification

• Protection of Victims: a) Coordination between the state and NGO Services; b) Compensation c) Shelters

• Rehabilitation of Victims.

Assessment

In general the set-up and the practical implementation of the NRM make it probably the most progressive and well-designed one among the CIS countries. It is especially positive that the system is opened to victims of trafficking for all forms of exploitation, including labour exploitation and that it is increasingly human-rights based and victim-oriented.

However there are certain areas with room for improvement:

• design and introduction of the monitoring and evaluation systems within NRM; • improvement of the procedures for alternative identification of victims;

21 • improvement of coordination between various actors in the NRM, as well as parts of the NRM and other stakeholders; • enhancement of the awareness raising about protection mechanisms and other services, which can be provided by NRM; • additional advanced training for the NRM actors.

The anti-trafficking responses focus to a large extent on law enforcement activities, on identifying and prosecuting the traffickers. In all internal instructions there is no appropriately strong guidance on providing security or assistance to victims.

In practice, most cases of trafficking had been discontinued and the offenders acquitted. Where there were convictions, they have been appealed. Notably, no acquittals have ever been appealed, since victims in most cases did not have lawyers. It was also rare for victims to be present during the proceedings, since most of them were repatriated after the start of proceedings.

Although victims have the right to free legal aid by law, they are not always informed of this right. They also have the option to participate as a party in the proceedings, whereby they could appeal a low conviction or an acquittal, but they do not seem to know about this possibility.

Importantly, however, there have been few cases of compensation so far. In order to claim compensation one has to demonstrate ‘real damages’7.Consideration was also given to the possibility of pursuing civil claims. Civil claims are lengthy and therefore legal representation is necessary. In general, a trafficked person cannot afford legal legally representation, however they are provided with help from the State Fund’s lawyer and NGOs, e.g. “Article 42 of the Constitution”.

7 Please see research paper on the victims access to justice produced by the NGO “Article 42 of the Constitution” under support of the OSCE Mission to Georgia 22 Policy recommendations

Anti-trafficking response functioning • Establish mechanisms on monitoring, evaluation and reporting in order to ensure that all actors and stakeholders act in conjunction. Mechanism of the annual reports prepared by the Interagency Council can be used as starting point. Implement revised reporting and statistical requirements identified in the Action Plan in order to inform evaluation and to meet international reporting obligations; • Improve proactive and reactive investigation, inter alia through improved cooperation and joint data collection and analysis by police and prosecutors; • Review the composition of the Inter-agency Council to identify the most appropriate cadre of key officials in ministries and institutions capable of fulfilling the regular monitoring, evaluation and inter-agency reporting requirements. • Strengthen data collection in order to inform further policy making.

Victims of trafficking identification • Develop guidelines on identification of trafficked persons and a common understanding of what “identification” means. It has to be clear why trafficked persons are identified in the first place; • Develop guidelines for victims of trafficking identification and ensure that a trafficked person does not go through the identification process a few times by various agencies; • Develop robust data protection mechanism; • Monitor whether and how victim assistance correlates with the victim’s participation in criminal proceedings. Special monitoring issues could be protection of support services during criminal proceedings (e.g. standing of social workers), the availability of compensation funds for victims (connected to or separate from criminal proceedings).

Access to justice and protection of rights • Ensure that trafficked persons can make informed decisions whether to collaborate with law enforcement and take part in criminal proceedings. Trial monitoring shows that victims are sometimes re-victimized during pre-trial investigation or court proceedings and do not receive required support/protection. Review the possibility of collective remedies, the availability of compensation funds for victims (connected to or separate from criminal proceedings), and standing of victims in criminal proceedings (e.g. possibility for victim impact statements during the proceedings; • Trial monitoring should look also at cases in which repatriated persons are prosecuted for crimes committed during the trafficking situation;

Other areas of concern

• Train MFA officials from Embassies and Consulates in main destination countries in the provision of appropriate consular services and advice to victims and potential victims abroad; make more effective cooperation with host country authorities in identifying, protecting and facilitating the return of actual and potential victims; and in liaising with national and foreign NGO victim protection structures. • Design and approve a package of government-owned initiatives to encourage labour alternatives to irregular migration, and the trafficking and re-trafficking of young women, girls and children by offering for example small scale loans, taxation

23 incentives, and programs to support new and SME businesses which target early school leavers, high risk groups and regions; as well as by subsidizing the job creation and reintegration activities of shelters and employers working with them (in conjunction with National Poverty Reduction Strategy). • Create National Child Trafficking Working Group in order to put more focus on combating trafficking in children, which is allegedly widespread8, • Promote safe and non-exploitative employment abroad by negotiating labour migration schemes with main European and other destination countries, and by advertising and monitoring the implementation through licensed employment offices of legal labour migration agreements and other legal overseas employment opportunities • Improve the targeting, content and effectiveness of public awareness, education and outreach strategies, including: a) Design new government-sponsored media and other public awareness programs relating the risks and dangers of human trafficking to its root causes and related social issues (including domestic violence against women and children; sexual assault; false employment and marriage offers; official corruption, racism and gender discrimination; as well as reproductive health (STDs, HIV/AIDS): and publicizing educational and vocational alternatives to trafficking and female/child exploitation. b) Mainstream Trafficking Awareness education in all Gender Awareness and Civic Education curriculums at pre-university school levels, relating human trafficking to its root causes and related social issues (as above). c) Improve the quality and flow of reliable official information to the media on trafficking arrests, prosecutions and convictions, as a deterrent to trafficking and traffickers (in conjunction with human rights-based training for media professionals).

8 According to the statements and interview of various stakeholders including 24 Annex 1 List of interviewed actors

State Institutions (in alphabetical order): 1. Administration and personnel of the shelters (Batumi, Tbilisi) 2. Director of the State Fund on Protection and Assistance to the (Statutory) Victims of Trafficking (Ms. Mari Meskhi) 3. Head of the MFA Consular Department (Konstatine Surguladze) 4. Head of the Civil Registration Office (Giorgi Vashadze) 5. State Interagency Coordination Council on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Secretary (Ms. Ketevan Khutsishvili) 6. Members of mobile groups on victims’ identification (4 persons) 7. Members of the State Fund Advisory Board (representatives of the NGOs: Keti Chelidze, Nato Shavlakhadze) 8. Representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Shota Utiashvili, Kakha Khandolishvili, Eka Zguladze) 9. Representatives of the Ministry of Justice (Paata Papuashvili) 10. Representatives of the Ministry of Labor, Healthcare and Social Protection (Gia Kakachia) 11. Representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office (Grigol Giorgadze, Baia Romelashvili, Sozar Subari) 12. Representatives of the Ministry of Migration and Resettlement (Zurab Mkheidze) 13. Representative of the State Border Guard Service (Kakha Sakheishvili)

International organizations and NGOs (in alphabetical order) 1. “42 article of constitution” (Meri Djaparidze) 2. Anti-Violence Network Georgia (Eliso Amirijebi) 3. EU Commission Delegation to Georgia and Armenia (Zane Bender) 4. Georgian Young Lawyers Association (Khatuna Chitanava) 5. ILO (Ia Dadunashvili, Zsolt Dudas) 6. IOM (Marc Hulst) 7. “Tanadgoma” 8. USAID (Andro Gigauri) …………………………………………………………………

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