The problem of human trafficking in Azerbaijan

Abstract

The problem of human trafficking plays a significant role in migration flows from Azerbaijan. It was first addressed at the beginning of the early 1990s. The mass unemployment that followed the collapse of the USSR and the Karabakh conflict with Armenia led to the emergence of informal “slave markets” in the centre of the capital city, Baku, in the mid-1990s (in Azeri “gyl bazari”). These were gathering places for unemployed men, mostly refugees and internally displaced persons, who were prepared to take up any jobs, including jobs that involved forms of enslavement. At that time, a number of publications appeared in the national media documenting the trafficking of men, as well as women and children, from Azerbaijan, for the purposes of forced labour and enslavement (Yunusov, 194). However, such occurrences were perceived as an inevitable consequence of the unresolved Karabakh conflict and of “temporary” economic and social turmoil. Most importantly, these were of episodic character and so, did not attract much attention.