Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ United States and Mongolian government officials and civil society organizations held a virtual bilateral dialogue today to share accomplishments and discuss progress and challenges toward achieving objectives and completing activities under the United States-Mongolia Child Protection Compact (CPC) Partnership, signed in April 2020.

The dialogue centered on the achievements and challenges participants and partner organizations faced in the first year towards meeting the CPC Partnership’s objectives of strengthening the efforts to effectively prosecute and convict child traffickers, provide comprehensive, trauma-informed and victim-centered care for child victims of these crimes, and prevent all forms of child trafficking in Mongolia.

Through this partnership, Mongolia has pledged to make combating human trafficking a higher priority; to expand its support for shelters for trafficking victims, to enhance victim-centered investigations and prosecutions; and to establish a Multidisciplinary Task Force to improve interagency coordination on victim identification, protection, and the investigation and prosecution of child trafficking crimes.

Participants included United States Ambassador Michael Klecheski, Acting Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons Dr. Kari Johnstone, and the Government of Mongolia’s Head of the Secretary of Coordination Council for Crime Prevention Nyamgerel Lkhamtogmid.

Ambassador Michael Klecheski provided remarks and affirmed that the United States remained committed to the success of the Partnership. He observed that “this Partnership exists because of the strong, joint commitment the United States and Mongolia have made to combat child trafficking, and it has the potential to make a real and enduring difference in children’s lives.”

In 2020 the U.S. government invested USD 5 million in foreign assistance to World Vision, The Asia Foundation, and local partners Mongolia Gender Equality Center, Talita Asia, Beautiful Hearts, and Unbound Mongolia to support the goals and objectives of the CPC Partnership. During the dialogue, Dr. Johnstone noted how the U.S. recently provided an additional USD 500,000 to the consortium to expand on its activities in support of the Partnership.

Dr. Johnstone expressed her appreciation for the work of our civil society partners.  She also applauded the Government of Mongolia for its dedication to the Partnership stating, “The CPC Partnership has already resulted in significant achievements despite the unique challenges of the last year, particularly in the establishment of the Multidisciplinary Task Force.  Both government and civil society organizations are successfully working together to achieve the CPC goals and objectives.”

Source: U.S. Embassy in Mongolia