Strengthening Mongolia's Cyber-Crime Investigations on Human Trafficking

  • Start Date
    2023
  • End Date
    2024
  • Project Status
    Active
  • Project Type
    Protection and Assistance to Vulnerable Migrants
  • Budget Amount (USD)
    100000.00
  • Coverage
    National
  • Year
    2023
  • IDF Region
    Asia and Oceania
  • Prima ID
    MN10P0532
  • Projects ID
    PX.0420
  • Benefiting Member States
    Mongolia
Mongolia is a source and destination country for trafficking in persons. In recent years, and prominently as a result of the pandemic, the Mongolian police reported a significant increase in the misuse of information and communication technology (ICT) by human traffickers to recruit victims and facilitate exploitation and control. While ICT has been co-opted by organized crime for all aspects of human trafficking, it has also offered new opportunities for law enforcement agencies to detect recruitment and exploitation of victims, trace funds and assets obtained through or used for trafficking in persons, identify and engage with suspects, etc. This project directly addresses new trends in the recruitment and exploitation of victims of trafficking through internet technologies that emerged in Mongolia in recent years and more prominently, as a result of the pandemic. The objective of this project is to strengthen Mongolian cyber-crime investigations on human trafficking through the use of innovative online investigative techniques based on open-source intelligence analysis (OSINT) in compliance with national procedures, national and international data protection principles and human rights considerations. To achieve this objective, the project will provide Mongolian police and security agencies with evidence-based research to improve project stakeholders’ understanding of ethical modalities and the potentiality for applying OSINT investigations to human trafficking cases. The project will subsequently build their capacities through a bespoke entry-level training course and a handbook. As a result of these interventions, CPA and MIA Officers are expected to increase the detection of potential cases of human trafficking and ultimately initiate more robust prosecutions corroborated by electronic evidence collected through OSINT methods.