GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL VISITS TRAFFICKING SHELTER,

UNCLAS TASHKENT 000723 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR SCA/CEN, INL, G/TIP, DRL E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV KWMN KCRM PHUM UZ SUBJECT: GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL VISITS TRAFFICKING SHELTER, INTER-AGENCY TIP MEETINGS HELD REF: TASHKENT 722 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: As part of the government's dialogue in support of the International Organization for Migration's Tashkent shelter for trafficking victims, an MFA official visited the shelter and met with a trafficking victim. This follows a visit to the shelter in mid-2006 by state Women's Committee officials, who provided housing to a trafficking victim at a hostel in Tashkent. The MFA official told us that the government held two inter-agency meetings on trafficking in March at the Presidential Apparatus. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) On April 5, Ismat Fayzullaev, Director for U.S. Affairs at the Foreign Ministry's Americas Department, visited a Tashkent shelter for victims of trafficking operated by Istiqbolli Avlod, the USAID-funded implementer of a regional anti-trafficking project of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). Fayzullaev also visited Istiqbolli Avlod's offices. At the shelter he met with a female trafficking victim who was recently repatriated from Thailand with the assistance of the Uzbek Embassy in Bangkok. Fayzullaev met with shelter staff and discussed their work and the needs of the shelter. This follows a 2006 visit to the shelter by state Women's Committee officials, who provided housing to a trafficking victim at a hostel in Tashkent. ¶3. (SBU) The MFA also said that the government held two inter-agency meetings at the Presidential Apparatus in March devoted to the fight against trafficking in persons. Although the content of the meetings was not made public, Fayzullaev told Poloff that participants discussed ways of strengthening anti-trafficking policies. ¶4. (SBU) Comment: The visit to the trafficking shelter, the inter-agency meetings, the conviction of a police official on a trafficking-related crime (reftel),as well as law enforcement participation in recent INL-funded anti-trafficking training, are encouraging. They support other substantial GOU initiatives to combat trafficking during the past year. Post believes that the Uzbek government recognizes the problem of trafficking and is taking tangible steps to address it. PURNELL