Mongolia - With rising numbers of Mongolian labour migrants moving overseas, there has been an increase in human trafficking, particularly of young Mongolian women for the purpose of sexual exploitation. As a destination country, foreign victims are most commonly trafficked to Mongolia for forced labour, particularly in the construction and mining sectors.

To help mitigate these trends IOM is hosting a three-day workshop in Ulan Bator next week for 35 Mongolian government officials, to strengthen their response to document fraud, migrant smuggling, and human trafficking.

The workshop, for officials from the Mongolian Immigration Agency (MIA) and the General Authority on Border Protection (GABP), will address the challenge of managing irregular migration, smuggling and human trafficking in Mongolia.

"This specialised training will greatly contribute to the Mongolian Government's counter-trafficking efforts by providing nominated MIA and GABP trainers with the opportunity to understand the fundamental issues," said Vice Director of Immigration Mongolia, M. Munkhbat.

"This workshop will provide Mongolian frontline immigration officers and border guards with the necessary skills to better detect fraudulent travel documents and to more effectively interview and identify victims of trafficking," said Officer in Charge of IOM Mongolia, Kieran Gorman-Best. “We are delighted to have trainers from IOM as well as the governments of Australia, Canada and China working with us on this.”

This activity is part of IOM's ‘Strengthening the Management of Labour Migration and Counter-Trafficking in Mongolia’ project funded by its international Development Fund. In the past year, IOM, in partnership with the Mongolian Gender Equality Centre, have provided direct assistance to over 60 victims of trafficking.

For more information please contact

Oyunbileg Rentsendorj
IOM Mongolia
Tel.: +976 7014 3100
Email: orentsendorj@iom.int