Human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Azerbaijan, and traffickers exploit victims from Azerbaijan abroad. Women and children from Azerbaijan are subjected to sex trafficking within the country and in
Iran,
Malaysia,
Pakistan,
Russia,
Turkey, and the
UAE. Azerbaijan is a destination country for sex trafficking victims from
China, Russia,
Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, and
Uzbekistan. In previous years, Azerbaijan has been used as a transit country for victims of sex trafficking from
Central Asia to Iran, Turkey, and the UAE. The 2005 Law on the Fight against Trafficking in Persons and article 144 of the criminal code prohibit sex and lobar trafficking and prescribe penalties of five to ten years' imprisonment. The government investigated twenty-six cases of sexual exploitation in 2018, and convicted 21 sex traffickers, compared to 25 sex traffickers in 2017. In 2019, the
United States Department of State Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons downgraded Azerbaijan to a '
Tier 2 watch list' country. ==See also==