The issue of human trafficking is of major concern to the Central Asia region, which is characterized by the weakness of the borders, economic inequality, and expanding criminal networks. The principal importance of the regional cooperation of the Central Asian states and their international partners is reflected in the enhanced struggle against trafficking that is likely to continue in 2025. This paper discusses the ways in which initiatives on collaboration, joint training, alignment of the policies, and multilateral engagement have enhanced the response of Central Asia to human trafficking.
It bases its analysis on recent trends, such as OSCE-based simulation training, IOM forums, and the strategic cooperation between China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with the view of providing an analysis of where they will lead coordinated action in the region, as well as challenges and their future.
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Central Asia’s Human Trafficking Landscape
The geographic location of Central Asia between Europe and Asia predisposes it to trafficking of individuals to be sexually exploited, forced into an activity, or engaged in some other modes of modern slavery. The problem is increased by economic pain, migratory pressures, and poor institutional capabilities. These vulnerabilities are exploited by traffickers who act mostly on a transnational basis across the countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and the adjacent nations, i.e., Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Regional Cooperation: Foundations and Frameworks
Multilateral Forums and Joint Training
During June 2025, more than 130 Central Asian practitioners and Turkey joined an ongoing five-day OSCE simulation-based training in Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, that was aimed at enhancing collaborative efforts against human trafficking. This was a participatory activity of realistic situations such as trafficking of sex, labor, trumped criminality, and safeguarding of the victim. Those who engaged in it were law enforcers, prosecutors, social workers, labor inspectors, and members of civil societies.
Such platforms can ensure cooperation, trust, and interaction, which are not only connected to training, Nurlanbek Azygaliev, Vice Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament, underlined. OSCE Special Representative Kari Johnstone laid stress on the need to eliminate silos and to facilitate the development of collaboration across sectors and borders.
IOM Regional Forums
The International Organization of Migration (IOM) has conducted regional forums that included government officials of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and other Central Asian countries. The forums also enable sharing of information, capacity development, and collective means of fighting trafficking and victim security.
Strategic Partnerships and Regional Integration
Central Asia-China Cooperation
During the June 2025 Astana Central Asia-China summit, leaders would sign the Astana Declaration and a Treaty on Eternal Good-Neighbourliness, Friendship, and Cooperation. President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the need to cooperate on such security issues as terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal arms sale, immigration, and human trafficking.
The enrolled level of economic interests by China, such as approximately 95 billion of trade relations with Central Asia, in turn, and more than 5,000 Chinese business entities concentrated on Kazakhstan alone, offers a platform of shared efforts in curbing trafficking and security-related dynamics. This integration of economic development with security cooperation can be observed in the example of the Khorgos International Center for Cross-Border Cooperation.
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Central Asia
GCC and Central Asia have increased their security and counterterrorism cooperation, which has focused on terrorism, extremism, drug trafficking, and transnational crime involving human trafficking. The GCC-Central Asia is the political dialogue that involves political coordination, intelligence sharing, as well as joint capacity building with adherence to sovereignty and non-interference.
Legal and Institutional Developments
National Action Plans and Legislative Reforms
The country of Central Asia has embraced or revised the usage of National Action Plans (NAPs) against human trafficking and in line with the international standards, including the UN protocol to prevent, suppress, and punish trafficking in persons. The 2022-2025 program of Kyrgyzstan features labor migration, trafficking, and the technological facilitation of exploitation.
Reforms in various legislations within the region reinforce victim protection and criminalization of trafficking, as well as prosecution. Nevertheless, the identification of the victims, data gathering, and implementation leave obstacles.
Challenges in Victim Identification and Protection
While improvements have been made, victim identification continues to be limited due to complex processes and frontline responders lacking awareness. The misidentification of trafficking situations as illegal migration or fraud limits a victim’s access to service provision and assimilates them into the community of fraud perpetrators.
Civil society organizations play critical functions in building awareness and providing support for victims, but are underfunded and under-represented in terms of formalizing their role in a national strategy.
Emerging Challenges: Technology and Trafficking
The rate of technology-facilitated trafficking, or online recruitment and exploitation, has risen significantly, particularly in Central Asia. Traffickers are utilizing encrypted messaging platforms to recruit and still control victims on social media platforms.
Due to the way organized crime networks use technology, there is a need for regional cooperation to establish legal frameworks, and technical capacities and capabilities to alert, investigate and dismantle digital trafficking.
International Support and Capacity Building
Organizations like the OSCE, IOM, UNODC, and ICMPD provide technical support, capacity-building training, and dialogue spaces. The OSCE’s simulation training and regional forums are examples of applied capacity building.
The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) supports cooperation on anti-corruption and anti-trafficking in Uzbekistan and surrounding states, developing institutional mechanisms for cooperation and cross-border interception.
Human Rights and Civil Society Engagement
International and national human rights organizations call on Central Asian governments to respect the commitments made at summits such as the 2025 EU-Central Asia meeting in Samarkand by sharing many of their approaches to civil rights and security in Central Asia.
An enabling space for NGOs, independent media, and general human rights defenders is important to effective responses to anti-trafficking practices, as well as victim-centered work.
The Way Forward: Priorities for Regional Cooperation
- Improve Cross-Border Coordination
Develop regular consultation methods and combined operations amongst law enforcement officials, border authorities, and service providers. - Pyromaniac Legal Frameworks and Legal Enforcement
Make effective anti-trafficking legislation, enhance prosecution through training and collaboration with the courts. - Improve the capacities of victim identification and support services
Establish mechanisms that allow for standardised referrals and increase resourcing for shelters, legal services, and rehabilitative services. - Build capacities for technology-facilitated human trafficking
Hone victim detection and investigative capabilities where trafficking occurs online and strengthen regulatory frameworks for platform companies. - Initiatives for awareness-raising and preventative action
Enable communities, youth, and media to implement awareness-raising campaigns towards vulnerable populations with elements of demand reduction. - Initiatives for human rights protection to be mainstreamed
Create space for civil society to work and to protect the victim’s rights and dignity in all actions and interventions, as well as to ensure that trafficking prevention actions are victim-centred and gender sensitive.
Regional collaboration is important to decrease human trafficking in Central Asia due to the transnational nature of human trafficking and limited action that can be taken on an individual basis. The 2025 initiatives, importantly the commencement of OSCE simulation training, the potential strategic partnerships with China and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, and the existing models of cooperation within the Partnership Group, just to name a few, site a path for increasing commitment to, and practicality of actions against, human trafficking in Central Asia. Yet human trafficking continues to be a changing issue – and specifically – the obstacles still remain – the ongoing inability to effectively identify victims, inability to effectively enforce law, the change and emerging threats in technology in a world where so much happens online is also an issue that continues to need political will, international partnership, and to consider the global issue collectively. Strengthening collaboration regardless of borders, sectors, and societies empowers Central Asia’s ability to mitigate and combat human trafficking and protect the dignity and rights of the most vulnerable population groups.