HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT OF MONGOLIA FOR 2009

Ulaanbaatar, /MONTSAME/ The government took limited steps to prevent trafficking, identify and prosecute offenders, and assist victims. The government continued to rely heavily on NGOs and the international community to provide most victim services and prevention activity.
During the year the International Organization for Migration and NGOs provided trafficking-related training to immigration officials, police investigators, prosecutors, railway police, GIA officials, and officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Social Welfare and Labor, among others. In addition foreign law enforcement experts trained local police on techniques for investigating trafficking and developing cases.
During the year 51 trafficking victims located abroad were repatriated. According to the Gender Equality Center, 27 of these were victims of labor exploitation in Turkey. The center assisted them with their reintegration.
Rather than file trafficking charges under the more severe article 113 of the criminal code, prosecutors proceeded under article 124, Organized Prostitution, which is easier to prove and carries lighter sentences. During the year 54 persons reported themselves to law enforcement authorities as victims of trafficking, and nine suspects were convicted under article 113, according to the Supreme Court research center.
Corruption was a problem, and there were reports of law enforcement officials directly involved in or facilitating trafficking crimes, including assisting traffickers in identifying potential victims. Some high-level government and police officials reportedly were clients of minors forced into prostitution, but the government did not investigate or take disciplinary action against law enforcement officers alleged to be involved in trafficking-related corruption.
NGO representatives reported that protections for victims and witnesses were extremely limited, and most assistance was provided by NGOs rather than the government. Social stigma inhibited victims from speaking out. The Gender Equality Center operated two shelters for the protection of trafficking victims without government support.
With the assistance of NGOs, customs officials distributed information to outward-bound citizens. However, the leaflets were not given uniformly. Rather, officials reportedly put them in the passports of only those women they judged to be likely prostitutes. NGOs expressed dismay at this incomplete and arbitrary means of distribution.
The Department of State's annual Trafficking in Persons Report can be found at www.state.gov.
(to be continued)
B.Khuder