In recent years, Tajikistan has seen a nascent private recruitment industry that places workers within the country as well as in foreign countries, in particular the Russian Federation. In 2008, ILO in cooperation with IOM hired an international and national consultant to carry out research on the scope of private employment agencies (PrEA) in Tajikistan. The draft report focused on legal regulations and PrEA business activities in the context of migration. It concluded that PrEA play a marginal role in placing workers abroad as the business as largely in the hand of informal intermediaries. The report also documented cases of serious labour law violations by foreign employers and Tajik agencies. Some of these cases could be considered as trafficking for the purpose of labour exploitation.