Categories
Journalistic Survey
Articles
Reportage
Analitic
Photo Reportage
Exclusive
Interview
Foreign Media about Georgia
Editorial
Position
Reader's opinion
Blog
Themes
Children's Rights
Women's Rights
Justice
Refugees/IDPs
Minorities
Media
Army
Health
Corruption
Elections
Education
Penitentiary
Religion
Others

Number of Victims of Trafficking Increases

November 10, 2004

Number of Victims of Trafficking Increases

On Friday October 29, 2004 the IOM Tbilisi office assisted a victim of trafficking from Nigeria to return to her native country. The woman had been trafficked into Georgia from Ukraine.
 
In June 2004 the 22-year-old Nigerian woman, who had been studying in Ukraine since 2000, went on an arduous journey to Georgia with a recruiter upon the promise to be employed as a dancer in Tbilisi. On her way she was locked up in an apartment some place in Russia for more than 1 month and in August was smuggled across the border into Georgia without a visa. Upon arrival in Tbilisi she was again locked up in an apartment and it turned out that her recruiter had problems delivering on his promise to find her a job. Finally the woman escaped and made her way to Batumi, believing that was the best way for her to return to Ukraine.
 
Without a visa she was not allowed to leave Batumi port. On September 4, 2004 she was arrested and law enforment bodies launched an investigation concerning her illegal entry into Georgia. Thanks to the involvement of the NGO "Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights" the case became known to the outside world. After IOM expressed a principal interest in assisting the woman, she was  released from prison on October 12, 2004.
 
Pending the arrangement of her return the woman was accommodated in a shelter managed by the NGO "Anti-Violence Network of Georgia".
 
After concluding that her return to Ukraine was impossible due to the fact that she is registered there as having violated a number of immigration and labor regulations, IOM assisted her last Friday to return to Nigeria. Currently, she is being taken care of by the IOM office in Lagos.
 
IOM wishes to thank the NGOs "Former Political Prisoners for Human Rights" and the "Anti-Violence Network of Georgia" for their very constructive cooperation.
 
For further enquiries about this case please contact Marc Hulst at the IOM Tbilisi office, tel. 293894, 252216, E-mail: marc@iom.ge

News