Topic: 2025-Combating Transnational Organized Crime
Country: Turkey
Delegate Name: Maryam Sadullaeva
Türkiye strongly believes transnational organized crime must be stopped to protect each country’s citizens. For many years, Türkiye has been the world’s leading host country for waves of immigrants and refugees, promising them what they need. However, this promise is yet to be fulfilled because of the organization of human trafficking. Türkiye’s population has been the victim of this issue, specifically vulnerable communities such as refugees, children, immigrants, and women. These people are then forced to do labor and be sexually exploited by criminal organizations. Additionally, Türkiye has been an important state in the process of migrant smuggling to Europe, because of its geographic location. Our location, intersection to Asia, Middle East, and Europe, and long borders help countries such as Syria and Afghanistan to smuggle people. Türkiye understands how dire it is to solve its problem of human trafficking and has been progressing in this matter.
Legal measures regarding human trafficking in Türkiye have been passed to combat this issue. To help victims of trafficking, the National Task Force on Fight Against Human Trafficking was founded in 2002. This task force includes government institutions and NGOs to create policies that include preventing human trafficking, perpetration of traffickers, and protection of victims. Additionally, two National Action Plans (NAP) were put into action. These NAPs were created to bring Türkiye to the level of fighting against human trafficking that other countries are currently at. These issues don’t just affect Türkiye, but also other countries, which is why a bilateral cooperation agreement was signed with Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Kyrgyzstan. An agreement with other nations allows for stronger responses to this issue because of the amount of support, resources, and organization. Despite all of these steps, some work needs to be done. For example, many human traffickers who commit sexual exploitation have been given lesser offenses by law enforcement. Adding strict regulations on law enforcement charging traffickers with the correct sentences will help get justice. Another issue is the lack of support for all victims of human trafficking. Though Türkiye has created programs for victims, such as the Victim Support Program, expanding these programs to include all victims, despite their identifiers, can help many communities.
The greatest way to help communities is to stop this at the root. One point not addressed throughout these legislations is the amount of fake documents used for this process. Criminal organizations utilize fake documentation to traffick people across borders. To combat this, implementing stricter policies, within a resolution, on reviewing documentation will help reduce successful trafficking. Another useful implementation would be gaining more agreements with multiple countries. This will allow a transnational deal to support one another and help stop any trafficking systems between nations. A problem that has not been confronted is the lack of updating Türkiye’s NAPs about human trafficking since 2009. Many other countries have issues with staying up to date, so a resolution that forces countries to renew their NAPS will help solutions continue to support. Human trafficking is an issue that affects many nations and so many people. Instead of working on this individually, nations must work together to save our people.
SOURCES:
“Turkey.” Global Organized Crime Index, Global Organized Crime Index, ocindex.net/assets/downloads/2023/english/ocindex_profile_turkey_2023.pdf. Accessed 10 Feb. 2025.
“Türkiye on Trafficking in Human Beings.” Türkiye on Trafficking in Human Beings / Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Foreign Affairs, www.mfa.gov.tr/turkiye-on-trafficking-in-human-beings.en.mfa#:~:text=Turkish%20Government%20closely%20cooperates%20with,victims%20of%20trafficking%20in%20persons. Accessed 11 Feb. 2025.
“Turkey’s Fight against Human Trafficking.” Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Interior Presidency of Migration Management, Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Interior, en.goc.gov.tr/turkey%E2%80%99s-fight-against-human-trafficking. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
“2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Turkey (Türkiye).” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, www.state.gov/reports/2024-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
“2023 Trafficking in Persons Report: Turkey.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, www.state.gov/reports/2023-trafficking-in-persons-report/turkey/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2025.
