Chapter 3. Mongolia’s National Response to Human Trafficking
3.4. Chapter review
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44 In the 2018 U.S. TIP Report, it stated that “authorities decreased the number of trafficking prosecutions and did not secure any convictions. Prosecutors dismissed up to 26 in-process trafficking cases upon passage of the new criminal code, rather than reassessing the cases to determine the best possible method of prosecution.” (U.S. Department of State 2018, 309) The government was also criticized for the lack of funding provided to victims’ shelters, which are run by local NGOs, and to capacity-building trainings for key stakeholders and law enforcement officials. It is for these reasons Mongolia was downgraded to “Tier 2 Watch List”.
The developments and achievements to combat trafficking in Mongolia in the past two decades clearly shows the active involvement of NGOs and IOs in driving the government to take the necessary measures to comply with the UN Trafficking Protocol and relevant international instruments. Development aid from donor countries and international organizations provided ample support for the government to address the issue. Without the pressures from civil society and the international community to conform to UN standards and international norms, Mongolia would see less improvements in anti-trafficking and human rights issues.
3.4. Chapter review
This chapter aims to determine the main actors responsible for influencing the Mongolian government to ratify the Trafficking Protocol and make the necessary policy changes to comply with it. It mentions the major instruments relevant to human trafficking to which Mongolia is a party to. The chapter discusses in details the measures taken to address human trafficking in Mongolia from 2000 to 2018, and explains the international organizations monitoring and evaluating Mongolia’s efforts to comply with international standards.
Mongolia’s first step to combat human trafficking involved introducing the crime as a criminal offence under the provision “Buying and selling of human trafficking” in the Criminal Code in
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2002. This initial development is credited to the work of the Center for Human Rights and Development NGO (CHRD 2004, 40).
The first National Plan of Action (NPA) to focus on human trafficking in Mongolia was the NPA on Commercial Exploitation and Trafficking in Children and Women, approved on 30 November 2005. The NPA was an all-inclusive document that aimed to suppress commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking of children.
The Mongolian Government accession to the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children happened in May 2008. The Human Security Policy Studies NGO (HSPSC) played a key role in persuading the adoption by awareness-raising and lobbying activities to policy-makers. (HSPSC 2008)
Local NGOs play a leading role in effecting positive changes towards the elimination of human trafficking in Mongolia. Their active dedication since the year 2000 has gradually been pushing the Mongolian government to meet international norms of protecting the rights of victims of traffickers, prevent future crimes of trafficking and prosecuting perpetrators. International donor agencies mainly support local NGOs to address the trafficking problem. (HSPSC 2012) However, the NGO that made the greatest impact in policy changes on a larger scale is the HSPSC. The NGO aspired to create and implement effective government policy in each programmatic area, which proved necessary to effect ownership of anti-trafficking efforts by the government. The Director of the NGO was experienced in the political process of Mongolia and his knowledge of high-level decision-making at the Parliament and the Government was instrumental in influencing positive policy changes. Therefore, the Director of HSPSC is considered in this thesis as the “norm entrepreneur”, who succeeded in convincing the Mongolian Government to conform to established international norms of combating human trafficking by making specific policy changes and legal amendments.
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46 The HSPSC initiated the work to draft and lobby for the approval of the law on trafficking in persons, which was passed by the Parliament in 2012. (HSPSC 2012, 14) The anti-trafficking law of Mongolia was drafted in accordance with the ‘3Ps” of Prevention, Protection and Prosecution in the UN Trafficking Protocol, with the appropriate definition of human trafficking translated into Mongolian. This was one of the major achievements of Mongolia to combat human trafficking and it improved the country’s evaluation by the UN and international organizations. (HSPSC 2012, 18)
Mongolia was reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council in 2010, where 13 recommendations were given by member states particularly on human trafficking. Mongolian NGOs participated in the UN Session as observers and lobbied for UN member states to recommend the Mongolian government to take action on improving compliance to various human rights obligations. The HSPSC joined the NGO group to lobby for improved anti-trafficking efforts.
(HSPSC 2010) Some of the main recommendations included adoption and implementation of a law on human trafficking, providing necessary services to victims of trafficking, funding shelters, and enhancing capacity of law enforcement officials. (HSPSC 2010, 35)
The U.S. TIP Office ranked Mongolia as “Tier 2” in their TIP Report for the years 2010-2017, acknowledging the yearly efforts of the government to meet the minimum standards of the U.S.
State Department at amending relevant legislation and efforts at prosecuting traffickers. (U.S.
State Department, TIP Reports 2010-2017). However, Mongolia’s tier ranking dropped to
“Tier 2 Watch list” in 2018, stating that “the government did not demonstrate increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period”. (U.S. Department of State 2018, 308)