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Georgia Is at the Highest Level in Terms of Fight Against Trafficking
The US State Department has published the 2022 report on the fight against human trafficking.
According to the report, with the measures implemented by the states against human trafficking, Georgia still maintains its position on the highest level - in the first tier.
Among the assessed countries, Georgia is among the top 30 countries in the world that fully meet anti-trafficking standards and continuously pursue consistent and coordinated anti-trafficking measures.
With this data, Georgia is ahead of 13 EU member states (Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia) and is the only one of the Eastern Partnership countries (Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan), which occupies a place in the first tier.
The US State Department emphasizes that Georgia fully meets the requirements of combating human trafficking and, despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19, continues to make strong and sustainable efforts in the direction of combating trafficking, which leads to the country's highest rating.
The US State Department has been positively evaluated following areas:
- Efforts made by the inter-agency anti-trafficking council under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice to monitor the implementation of the national action plan;
- Activities carried out in the direction of raising public awareness of the crime of human trafficking;
- Effective operation of specialized mechanisms responsible for detection/identification of crime victims;
- Availability of victim protection measures and services despite the pandemic.
According to the report, the legislative change, according to which victims of trafficking crimes have the right to receive one-time compensation regardless of the presence or absence of their procedural status as a victim, received special approval.
The guidance documents created by the initiative of the Ministry of Justice of Georgia, which are intended for professionals responsible for labor exploitation, forced labor and identification of victims, were positively evaluated.
Georgia's advanced position in the report of the US State Department and the progress achieved in the reporting period in the fight against human trafficking is the result of the effective work of the Interagency Council implementing measures against human trafficking.
The Council is headed by the Minister of Justice of Georgia, and its members include representatives of all relevant state agencies, the Office of the Public Defender, non-governmental and international organizations.