Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 1 /Trend, A.Badalova/
The Government of Azerbaijan demonstrated efforts to protect and assist victims of trafficking during 2010, the US State Department's "2011 Trafficking in persons report" said.
According to the report, in 2010 the government identified 31 adult female victims of sex trafficking, three child victims of sex trafficking, and three male victims of forced labor in 2010. This is a decrease from 220 total victims identified by the government in 2009.
The victims of forced labor were identified as trafficking victims and repatriated by the Government of Azerbaijan after being jailed in Poland.
"The government provided medical, psychological, financial and housing assistance to
all identified victims of trafficking, the report said. It also provided medical and psychological assistance to an additional 319 women, who were potential victims of trafficking, without requiring that they fill out a police report".
According to the report, during the last year, Azerbaijan's government funded one trafficking shelter which assisted 27 victims of sex trafficking, compared with 48 victims assisted by the government-funded trafficking shelter in 2009.
With regard to the prevention of trafficking, the report noted that the Government of Azerbaijan sustained its efforts in this direction during 2010.
The government ran trafficking awareness public service announcements, developed by NGOs, on major TV networks, the report said.
According to the report, the government continued to fund an NGO-operated trafficking hotline that served to provide information to the public and identify potential victims of trafficking. It also helped create and distribute posters advertising the hotline in cooperation with other organizations.