PROTECTION
Uruguayan authorities assisted an increased number of transnational trafficking victims in 2014, although specialized victim services remained inadequate.While labor inspectors screened for possible trafficking cases and Uruguayan officials had access to a regional guide on how to identify female victims of international sex trafficking, some officials lacked guidelines for identifying trafficking victims among vulnerable populations. The Ministry of Social Development (MIDES) reported assisting 113 possible victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation in 2014, including five potential labor trafficking victims, a significant increase from 40 possible victims identified in 2013. Ninety-seven possible victims were from the Dominican Republic, while 12 were Uruguayan. The government did not distinguish between women consensually engaged in prostitution and potential victims of sex trafficking, so it was unclear how many of the women assisted by MIDES were exploited in sex trafficking. Authorities did not report identifying any male victims, although an international organization assisted three male victims. The government did not report identifying any child victims of trafficking in 2014 and the National Institute for Children and Adolescent Affairs (INAU) did not report how many children it identified in commercial sexual exploitation during the year.
The government provided 2,730,000 Uruguayan pesos ($114,000) for MIDES to assist adult female sex trafficking victims and women in prostitution with psychological, medical, and other services. MIDES provided some of this funding to an NGO providing specialized services.There were no specialized shelters for trafficking victims in the country, and NGOs and the government reported a need for more adequate lodging options for sex trafficking victims, as accommodation at other shelters accessible to victims was often not available. INAU did not report how many child trafficking victims it assisted at shelters for at-risk youth.Victim care services were weaker outside the capital. There were no specialized services for male trafficking victims.While authorities did not identify the 28 African fishermen as labor trafficking victims, they provided the men with health care and lodging for several weeks before repatriation. NGOs reported a need for long-term services such as reintegration, housing, and mental health care. MIDES provided an unspecified number of trafficking victims with employment assistance services.There were no reports trafficking victims were jailed, deported, or otherwise penalized for acts committed as a direct result of being subjected to human trafficking. While the government did not offer trafficking-specific legal alternatives to

victims’ removal to countries where they faced retribution or hardship, authorities offered general asylum and residential work permits to foreign trafficking victims in 2014.

PREVENTION
The government maintained limited prevention efforts during the year. MIDES chaired an interagency committee that coordinated government anti-trafficking efforts; a decree made the committee an official government institution in 2014. Experts reported the committee met infrequently and was largely ineffective. A draft national plan remained under development in 2014. Authorities conducted awareness campaigns largely focused on sex trafficking, including in tourist areas, and launched a campaign with EU funding to raise awareness on commercial sexual exploitation of children.The government took actions to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts involving children by charging individuals who paid children for commercial sex, but did not make efforts to reduce the demand for forced labor. Authorities provided anti- trafficking training to Uruguayan troops prior to their deployment on international peacekeeping missions during the year. The government provided anti-trafficking training or guidance for its diplomatic personnel.

UZBEKISTAN:
Tier 2 Watch List 
Uzbekistan is a source country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and women and children subjected to sex trafficking. Uzbekistani women and children are subjected to sex trafficking in the Middle East, Eurasia, and Asia, and also internally in brothels, clubs, and private residences. Uzbekistani men, and to a lesser extent women, are subjected to forced labor in Kazakhstan, Russia, and Ukraine in construction, oil, agricultural, retail, and food sectors. Internal trafficking is prevalent in the country. Government-compelled forced labor of adults remains endemic during the annual cotton harvest. In 2014, despite a central government-decree banning all participation of those under age 18 in the cotton harvest, local officials mobilized children in some districts. In addition, across much of the country, third-year college and lyceum students continued to be mobilized, an unknown number of whom were not yet 18 years old. Some independent observers alleged that the decreased use of child labor was counterbalanced by an increase in the government’s mobilization of adult forced labor to harvest cotton in 2014.There were limited reports that students, at certain institutions, faced the threat of suspension, expulsion, or other forms of harassment by school administrators and teachers if they refused to pick cotton. Some adults who refused to pick cotton, did not pay for a replacement worker, or who did not fulfill their daily quota may have been threatened with the loss of social benefits, termination of employment, and harassment. Private companies in some regions mobilized employees for the harvest under the implicit threat of increased government inspections and taxes. Some independent observers allege that some workers were injured or died, at least in part, due to harvest-related activities in 2014.There were also limited reports that, in some regions, teachers, students, private business employees, and others were at times forced by local officials to work in construction, agriculture, and cleaning parks.
The Government of Uzbekistan does not fully comply with the

minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. The government issued and publicized a decree prohibiting the forced labor of children under age 18 in the 2014 cotton harvest and fined college directors and farms for using child labor to pick cotton. In 2014, the government signed a Decent Work Country Programme agreement with ILO to develop national policies to support the government in its observance of ILO Conventions 182 (Worst Forms of Child Labour) and 105 (Abolition of Forced Labour). One component of the agreement authorizes ILO to perform a survey on recruitment practices and working conditions in agriculture, especially the cotton sector.The government also agreed with the World Bank and ILO to allow ILO to monitor the 2015-2017 cotton harvests for child and forced labor in five World Bank-funded project areas, which comprise approximately 60 percent of Uzbekistan’s cotton producing territory. Despite these efforts, serious concerns persist, as government-compelled forced labor of adults remained endemic in the 2014 cotton harvest.There were also reports that local government officials, under pressure to fulfill government- decreed cotton quotas, mobilized children in some districts of certain regions, in contravention of the government decree.The government also allegedly attempted to conceal possible labor violations in cotton fields by threatening and detaining at least two activists who were attempting to document them. Regarding protection efforts, the government continued to fund a trafficking rehabilitation center for men, women, and children and Uzbekistan’s diplomatic missions abroad helped repatriate 368 victims.