A 45-year-old woman from the Kushoniyon district in Tajikistan’s Khatlon province has been arrested in connection with a human trafficking case. The Interior Ministry’s official website says criminal proceedings have been instituted against her under Article 130 of Tajikistan’s Criminal Code — human trafficking; an investigation is underway.
According to the investigation, in 2023, the woman, along with her 28-year-old accomplice, was involved in recruiting young women for prostitution in Moscow. The women were promised "improved social status" and better living conditions.
Law enforcement authorities discovered that the women had rented rooms in a hotel near the Seligerskaya metro station in Moscow, where the women were intended to be accommodated. In August 2023, the suspect met with a 24-year-old woman from the city of Bokhtar, the capital of Khatlon province, and offered her the same opportunity to move to Russia under similar terms.
Other details of the case have not been disclosed by the authorities, and the investigation is ongoing.
It is worth noting that last year, Tajikistan recorded 177 cases of human trafficking, including 10 cases of child trafficking. According to the authorities, 56 criminal cases have been initiated in connection with these crimes, involving 73 individuals, 8 of which concern trafficking minors. Investigations are still underway in two of the cases, while the rest have been sent to court for further proceedings.
In the U.S. government's annual report "Trafficking in Persons – 2025," it was mentioned that 57 human trafficking cases were initiated in Tajikistan in 2024, three fewer than in 2023. The report noted that Tajikistan's efforts still fall short of minimum international standards, but the government is taking steps to reduce the scale of the crime.
According to the report, 272 human trafficking victims were identified in Tajikistan in 2024, with 238 subjected to forced labor and 34 to sexual exploitation.
