On January 2005 Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili signed a decree on anti-trafficking action plan for 2005-2006 years. The decree envisages setting up an anti-trafficking interim commission for combating human trafficking.
IRIS Georgia and USAID organized a presentation of the anti-trafficking action plan on February 14 at the Tbilisi Marriott Hotel.
In the opinion of Mr. Konstantine Korkelia, Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, trafficking is an acute and actual issue, which is problematic not only for Georgia. It should be mentioned, that the Security Council will coordinate all agencies in fighting trafficking.
Davit Usupashvili of IRIS Georgia stresses that there is dangerous level of trafficking in Georgia: we are somewhere in between 2nd and 3rd category countries in regard of trafficking. If the government does not improve the situation, that will result in losing serious financial support from the U.S. as the Congress prohibits rendering financial assistance to such countries.
The issue of labor migration is also of high priority. The first task of the Action Plan is to legally regulate the issue of labor migration. Noteworthy, that the Parliament is to adopt a law on labor migration in the first quarter of 2005.