Roundtable to Discuss Sustainable Development Goals in Tajikistan

The event was conducted at the ILO's initiative and co-organised by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), International Organization for Migration (IOM), and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) representative offices in Tajikistan.

The roundtable participants focused in particular on SDG #8 concerning decent work and productive employment, and more specifically, on the eradication of forced labour and child labour in all its forms (target 8.7). What kind of effective measures need to be taken to eradicate forced labour, end modern-day slavery and human trafficking and secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labour – all of these issues were central to the discussion.

The audience included representatives from a wide range of institutions, as one of the round table's objectives was to bring together various stakeholders in order to explore the root causes of the country's challenges and jointly search for solutions in order to reach target 8.7 in the coming years. The event was attended by 88 participants from government agencies, including the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Migration, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Ministry of Education and Science, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Culture, Agencies for Statistics, Youth, Women and Families, labour unions, employer associations, NGOs, mass media, international organisations, UN agencies, and others. The round table audience also included regional representatives from Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, Khatlon and Sughd Regions, and representatives of the German and US Embassies in Tajikistan. The ILO's key partner in the country, the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Migration, chaired the round table on behalf of the Government of Tajikistan.

The meeting adopted a draft joint recommendation concerning a mechanism for target 8.7 implementation at the national and local levels. It was decided that the ILO, IOM, UNICEF and OSCE, as well as other participants, would take steps towards a more effective interaction among the various stakeholders aimed at eradication of forced labour, human trafficking and child labour. The participants emphasised the importance of joint support by all stakeholders at the national and local levels for the implementation of SDG-related national strategies and action plans, in particular those addressing the priority issues of child labour, forced labour and human trafficking.

The roundtable in Dushanbe launched the country’s effort to build a nationwide stakeholder coalition aimed at achieving SDG #8. In addition to this, the roundtable and its resolutions have contributed to the implementation of Tajikistan's National Development Strategy for 2016-2030.