Frozen water isn’t nearly as flat as you might imagine, which becomes an issue when you’re crossing 160km of it on a bicycle. Around me, huge, fractured slabs of Lake Khovsgol, in its solid seasonal form, rear up in jagged stacks, like the ruined battlements of some frost king’s fortress.

Hauling the bike across the most manageable heap, I squint through my balaclava slot at a vast white world, very distantly bound by spindly forests and unclimbed, snow-veined mountains. The frigid desolation is giddying and the silence profound, until the lashes of my left eye freeze together and I break it with a panicky yelp.

Khovsgol is Mongolia’s largest lake by volume and one of the oldest bodies of fresh water on earth, created by tectonic activity more than 2mn years ago. Tucked up by the Russian border near big sister Baikal, it lies in the loneliest corner of a far-flung nation. Getting there from Ulaanbaatar, home to half of Mongolia’s 3mn people and its only international airport, proves a useful preparatory bonding experience for our 30-strong party of participants and crew: a 13-hour minibus convoy, on road surfaces that rack up 12,400 steps on my fitness watch.

It is late February, and the drive is a showcase for Mongolia’s bleak grandeur, an enormity of largely treeless hillsides, stippled with snow, beige grass and the full spectrum of livestock, from yak to camel. There are few settlements: outside the capital, most families still lead semi-nomadic lives, herding animals and pitching gers. It’s not quite a timeless existence. Every household in Mongolia appears to own a Toyota Prius, imported second-hand from Japan, and will merrily employ it to round up their sheep.

Eighteen of us have signed up for the Mongol 100 — a billing derived from Khovsgol’s length in miles — pledging to traverse the frozen lake “by any means necessary”. The event is one of 30 that will be staged this year by a company called Rat Race, most of which combine the thrill of adventure travel with the focus of a tangible physical challenge. The company grew out of the “adventure racing” scene that was developing in the 1990s: long-distance competitions contested by mixed teams, usually in wilderness settings, and typically involving a combination of running, cycling, kayaking, orienteering and perhaps swimming or climbing.

In 2003, sitting in a tent on the Peruvian mountain Alpamayo, 23-year old British climber Jim Mee came up with the idea of the “Rat Race Urban Adventure”, which would bring adventure racing to cities, with events staged over the course of a weekend, thus making it far more accessible to those tied down by jobs and families. Soon, hundreds of enthusiastic teams were abseiling down buildings and orienteering through parks in Edinburgh, Bristol and Manchester, but the company gradually migrated back into the countryside and then, in a pivot adopted even more enthusiastically post-Covid, towards “bucket-list” international adventures. Next year 11,150 people are expected to take part in 40 events that range from running across the Namib desert to a cycle traverse of the Andes. Though the objectives might seem outlandish, most are achievable in a week’s annual leave — Mee calls them “extraordinary adventures for regular folks”.

Our four days on the ice in Mongolia are bookended by two at the start for preparation and two afterwards for recovery. By the time we hit the hard stuff at Khankh, a medieval scatter of wood, canvas and yaks up at the lake’s northern tip, I’ve established that everybody else has chosen their own feet as the necessary means, in two cases with ice skates attached.

Supplied by the organisers, my ride is a fat bike with chunky, nail-studded tyres. It’s my debut on one of these two-wheeled tractors, which proves surprisingly nimble as I thrum noisily along Khankh’s foreshore towards the jaunty little start banner. Glimmering in the dawn sun, Khovsgol stretches endlessly away before us. It’s -12C, and we’re thickly layered in fur and fleece. Breath steams through snoods and balaclavas; our cleated shoe coverings puncture the ice with bubble-wrap pops as we stamp warmth into our feet. A cowbell is rung with vigour, and with a muffled cheer and a chorus of grating swishes, we head out across the ice.

I spend those first hours unlearning many of cycling’s most basic common-sense principles. Instead of avoiding the ominous patches of mirrored black-green ice, I gravitate towards them: on these tyres, the smoother the surface, the better the grip. You also need to go faster when you want to go slower, ironing out slips and wobbles that at low speeds can pitch you over. Yet you must do so with only the gentlest inputs from your hands and feet. Press too eagerly on the pedals and the back wheel slides round to say hello; the front says goodbye with anything more than the tiniest twitch of the handlebars. The do’s and don’ts of braking: don’t brake.

If you don’t like freeze-dried food and can’t handle eight days without a shower, this is not the trip for you.

Yet even a slow and nervous cyclist will outpace any pedestrian, and after a very ginger start, I apologetically reel in the field. Ahead of the walkers are a pair of very determined runners; ahead of them are the two skaters. Both power across the ice with a graceful composure that defies their inexperience. One had prepared with no more than a couple of laps around his local rink in the Midlands. The other had just put on skates for the first time in his life.

Such were my remarkable fellow participants: a mix of ages, genders and backgrounds, brought together by a shared passion for gung-ho, spartan adventure. If you aren’t up for a pretty hefty physical challenge, don’t like freeze-dried pouch food and can’t handle eight days without a shower, this is not the trip for you.

Our minibuses have gone on ahead, erecting red kite banners to plot our course, and setting up pit stops where we’re plied with calories, hot fluid and encouragement. An hour or so beyond the second of these, I spot a huddle of tall white cones among the snow-wigged shoreline pines, each sprouting a neat coil of woodsmoke. A welcome volley of whoops and cowbells confirms I’ve reached our tepee camp. Time and distance seem governed by different rules on the ice, thwarting all attempts to gauge progress across a feature-free void. It feels as if I’ve been out there for 10 hours and covered 100km; in fact it’s four and 40.

Beer in hand, I sit by my tepee’s stove, pull up the canvas door flap and watch the rest of the field run, jog and shuffle in under a setting sun. Bringing up the rear is our winsome broom wagon, a horse-drawn wooden sled with a couple of weary stragglers on board. Ahead lies an evening of freeze-dried fireside feasting, beneath a profusion of stars. Vodka-wise, there’s a balance to be struck: enough to take the edge off those close-quarter snuffles in your five-person tepee, not so much that you spend half the night trooping to and from a demarcated hole in the cold, black woods.

The Mongolians in our support crew are a perennial astonishment: erecting and dismantling our nightly camps at fast-forward speed; knocking up an epic fire from huge lengths of tree, then bunging a Soviet-era pressure cooker on it, abrim with reindeer stew. They wear extravagant fur-lined robes and hats, but never gloves, not while securing our water supply by chain-sawing a hole in the ice, nor while manually repositioning the red-hot woodburner in my tepee. At first they seem bemused by our mission, by the fact that people from very far away would spend a lot of money to wobble and blunder across this most hostile of environments. But we win them round with our sheer indefatigability, plus a few rounds of campfire vodka and a go on my bike.

The days begin in shuddering cold, filling our bottles with smoke-flavoured lake water boiled up on the breakfast fire. On some mornings the ice seems alarmingly fragile, fracturing under my front wheel with a reedy tinkle as little cracks shoot jaggedly away in all directions. Scarier still are the distant artillery booms that thunder out as the ice rears up and shatters, bullied to breaking point by compressive temperature shifts or the currents that surge beneath it. The smaller catastrophes leave the white plain decorously strewn with a million glinting shards, as if someone had dropped a chandelier from an airship. The more brutal have me dragging the bike through mile-long quarries of frozen rubble.

There are mesmerising sections of deep, dark emerald ice shot through with veins, like transparent marble or a shattered-windscreen hall of mirrors. I judder over flash-frozen ripples and wavelets, and cratered moonscapes clumped with wind-sculpted Henry Moore snowmen. My hanky freezes to cardboard; my phone periodically dies of cold. There are no daydreams on this journey, no moments of mind-wandering distraction. For every single second of every single day you are thrillingly, viscerally aware that you’re in outer Mongolia, crossing an enormous frozen lake.

Of course, there are times when the glacial isolation gets to me. I linger at the pit stops, havens of sweet blueberry tea and human contact, and begin to envy the walkers and runners, who coalesce into chatty, pace-matched pairs or trios. My social routine becomes weirdly binary: I’m either smothered with company, crammed together under canvas or round a heap of blazing pine trunks, or the only man alive on God’s frozen earth.

“The days begin in shuddering cold and the ice seems alarmingly fragile, fracturing under my front wheel”

On the second day a bullying sidewind knocks me over a few times, and I’m beaten to the finish by one of the power runners. The day after, our route overlaps with an unofficial ice road and we encounter the occasional slithering Prius. One afternoon, beside a little pine-clustered hump of an island in the middle of the lake, we arrive to find our tepees pitched on the ice. A pre-dinner doze is cut short by an apocalyptic shuddering boom that segues into a symphony of whiplash cracks, muffled aquatic slooshes and ethereal rustles.

Parting tepee flaps we see our Mongolians staring doubtfully into a jagged fissure that has ripped the ice asunder a few metres offshore. It transpires this wasn’t a standard glacial event but an earthquake, which we later find notched 4.8 on the Richter scale. With parts of Khovsgol already beginning to thaw — it is usually frozen from November to April — this news doesn’t ensure a perfect night’s sleep. The next morning we awake to find the wood burner, solicitously fed by the crew through the night, has liquefied our tepee floor.

On the final day, the trail-finding lead minibus encounters patches of open water and our route is redrafted on the hoof. Khovsgol narrows as we approach the town of Hatgal, where an annual ice festival is in full swing, luring giggly pedestrians and pirouetting novice drivers out on to the frozen water. After all that deserted wilderness, the clamour is almost overwhelming. Just past a jetty where summer ferries and derelict cargo hulks stand entombed in the ice, I am politely accosted by a family who are intrigued by my bike, prodding its bulbous, armoured tyres with ungloved fingers. They all want a quick spin, and several selfies. The Mongol 100 finish banner is already in sight, and a belated bunching of the field means I cross it three abreast with a runner and one of our skaters, amid a cacophony of whoops and cowbells.

Achievement comes mixed with relief, and a dose of regret as we watch the balance of our expeditionary force stride, slide and stumble over the line. That’s the trouble with any shared endeavour, particularly when it’s played out in a slightly terrifying wilderness. It’s as if I’ve just been through a very intensive and hugely over-engineered team-building challenge with people I’d never previously met, but now can’t imagine ever being apart from.

Details

Tim Moore was a guest of Rat Race (ratrace.com). Entry to the Mongol 100 costs $4,750, including accommodation, guides, vehicle support, all meals and transfers but not flights. The next Mongol 100 events start on February 25, 2024 and March 2, 2025.

The Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai tasked to start the EPC-04 Package Work of the Oil Refinery and commission the plant in 2027. The Government of Mongolia pursues the policy of intensifying the construction of the Oil Refinery. The Premier instructed to make up for the 13 months of work lost during the Covid-19, start the EPC-04 Package Work of the Oil Refinery, and intensify the work to put the plant into operation in 2027.

In 2016, the General Loan Agreement of USD 1 Billion was signed between the Government of Mongolia and the Export-Import (EXIM) Bank of the Republic of India. According to the Feasibility Study released at that time, it was concluded that the "Oil Refinery Construction Project" requires funding equivalent to USD 1 billion 236 million. Therefore, a loan agreement was signed in October 2019 to settle additional funding of USD 236 million from the Government of Mongolia.

The principal repayment of the loan was scheduled to be paid annually in the amount of USD 64.5 million starting from February 2023. However, as of February 2023, USD 112 million was taken out of the USD 1 billion loan. Therefore, a proposal to change the repayment schedule of the loan, which had been used to a minor extent, was made to the Indian side, sub-loan agreements have been signed on August 17, 2023, and the repayment has been postponed. The sub-loan agreement reduces the principal repayment of the loan from USD 64.5 million to USD 13.1 million. In addition, the period of exemption from the principal payment of 789.0 million US dollars, which is the financing of EPC-02 and EPC-03 Package Works, has been extended for another seven years.

With this agreement, the implementation of the four Package Works of "Oil Refinery Construction Project" that were regulated by one contract, which were dependent on each other and delayed, can be separated, thus enabling to intensify implementation of the Package Works.

Currently, EPC-04 Package Works, namely the construction and equipment works of the main plant, are pending. "Mongolian Oil Refinery" has announced that the budgeted cost of EPC-04 Package of USD 236 million will be increased by USD 422.0 million during the bidding process, making it a total of USD 648 million.

The Government of Mongolia confirmed the loan agreement for the initial cost of USD 236 million, and submitted a request for financing to the Export-Import Bank of the Republic of India in order to quickly start the work on the three facilities that will require the longest period of work in the EPC-04 Package: hydrocracking, sulfur separation facility, and hydrogen plant.

The visiting Mongolian Minister of Justice and Home Affairs made the above remark when meeting Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Ha Noi on September 12.

The host leader said that amidst the rapid, complicated and unpredictable situation in the region and the world, the two countries should work closely together to enhance the efficiency of the bilateral cooperation.

He suggested the two countries continue increasing delegation exchanges, spurring security-defense cooperation, enhancing their roles over issues of common interest, including maintaining peace, stability and development in the region and the world, and strengthening cooperation in economy, trade, and investment.

The Prime Minister also suggested the two sides re-negotiate an air transport agreement, and expand the Viet Nam-China-Mongolia railway route, while promoting people-to-people exchanges and tourism cooperation.

Khishgee Nyambaatar briefed his host on the outcomes of his earlier talks with Vietnamese Gen. To Lam, Minister of Public Security, during which the two sides signed a number of cooperation agreements in criminal prevention and combat, especially trans-national crime.

Uranium is officially in a bull market with a 20% rise in price so far in 2023, vastly outperforming other metals markets.

Uranium scaled $60 per pound on Friday for the first time since 2011. The breakthrough for the nuclear fuel after a decade in the doldrums coincided with the last day of the World Nuclear Symposium in London.

The World Nuclear Association’s biennial report provides long and medium term projections and insights into the more obscure corners of the global supply chain.

The report has little to worry uranium bulls, the ranks of which has grown large in the past couple of years, as the role nuclear could play in the green energy transition becomes obvious even to long term critics of the renewable source.

The nuclear option

The WNA report predicts world reactor requirements for uranium to surge to almost 130,000 tonnes (~285 million pounds) in 2040. That’s up from an estimate of 65,650 tonnes in 2023.

Under the World Nuclear Association upper forecast that total rise to 184,300 tonnes and even its most pessimistic forecast – 87,000 tonnes in 2040 – translates to a healthy rise in demand for the commodity.

From the current 391 gigawatts electricity of operable nuclear plants, the WNA now projects capacity will reach 686 GW by 2040 under its base case scenario. It’s a hefty increase of 71 GW from the organisation’s estimates in its the 2021 report.

Uranium price makes fresh decade high as forecasts grow rosier

The bulk of new generating capacity will be located in China which is aggressively pursuing nuclear energy to replace coal which supplies the bulk of the country’s energy needs currently. The country has 23 reactors under construction, 23 planned and a further 168 proposed to add to its current operating fleet of 53 reactors. Worldwide 436 reactors are currently in operation and another 59 under construction.

Overall demand projections from the WNA have increased in the last update, with 4.1% CAGR demand growth expected through 2040, from 3.1% in its 2021 report.

SMR

The role small modular reactors can play in stoking demand has kept uranium watchers excited for decades, but now the promised spike in demand from these technologies are finally set to have a meaningful impact. Russia is a leader in the field with two floating SMR reactors entering commercial operation in 2020 and China is expected to turn the switch on a land-based reactor in 2025.

A significant portion of the WNA’s upward growth adjustments can be attributed to the accelerated adoption of SMRs and the body believes installed capacity will reach 31 GW by 2040.

In a note BMO Capital Markets says the WNA’s forecasts for SMRs appear to conservative considering the potential of the technology’s use in everything from shipping to data centres.

The investment bank’s own forecasts point to 58GW of installed SMR capacity by the end of the next decade or around a tenth of nuclear generation capacity which is in line with the upper band of the WNA’s predictions.

Remote chances

BMO sees SMR boosting mining companies plans around decarbonisation of operations many of which are located in remote areas far from power grids. Many mines have replaced diesel generators with renewable sources like solar power, but for that you need ample space and the right climate:

“For others, particularly in colder climates such as Canada, we do see potential for micro-scale nuclear power solutions.

Uranium price makes fresh decade high as forecasts grow rosier

“Indeed, in much the same way as platinum producers are championing hydrogen-based trucks by installing them at their operations, we see an opportunity where uranium miners could potentially be pioneers in the use of SMRs.”

BMO believes remote mine sites have the best potential for SMR installations after marine freight and steelmaking.

Security and secondary supply

The report was likely already at the printers when the coup in Niger grabbed newspaper headlines but the WNA does point to “geopolitical instability, notably resulting from the Russia-Ukraine” resulting in increased interest in nuclear power for energy security and sovereignty.”

“The same instability has had significant implications for the globalized market for nuclear fuel cycle services, with utilities, suppliers and governments in North America and Europe pursuing opportunities to diversify supplies,” the WNA says.

WNA believes in the near term, secondary supplies of uranium will continue to play a role in bridging the gap between supply and demand as it has for more than three decades. But there is good news for miners longer term and the WNA acknowledges in its report the need for new greenfield uranium projects.

“However, secondary supply is projected to have a gradually diminishing role in the world market, decreasing from the current level in supplying 11-14% of reactor uranium requirements to 4-11% in 2050.“

Secondary supplies include among others reprocessed nuclear fuel, down blending of highly enriched uranium in nuclear weapons, tailing re-enrichment and stockpiles from oversupply between 1950–1970 BMO explains. BMO estimates roughly 3.7 years’ worth of reactor requirements are currently held as inventory.

Foreign Minister of Mongolia Battsetseg Batmunkh, who is on an Official Visit to the Commonwealth of Australia, held official talks with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia Penelope Ying-Yen Wong on September 13, 2023.

Recognizing the solemn celebration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and the Commonwealth of Australia in 2022, the Foreign Ministers assessed the current state of relations and cooperation between the two countries. They expressed their contentment with the active expansion and development of cooperation in political, defense, mining, education, and humanitarian sectors and strengthening of people-to-people ties under the "Extended Partnership" over the past 50 years.

The Parties acknowledged the need to elevate bilateral relations to a comprehensive partnership by fostering relations and cooperation between Mongolia and Australia, based on the scope and potential of the cooperation. Moreover, the Ministers agreed to enhance the frequency of high and highest-level visits and political dialogue between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Battsetseg emphasized the ample opportunities for advancing trade, investment, and economic ties while expanding cooperation in agriculture, culture, and tourism sectors between Mongolia and Australia. Furthermore, she expressed Mongolia's intention to closely cooperate in establishing Agreements on Air Transport and Social Protection as part of strengthening the legal framework.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong expressed her confidence that the Official Visit of the Foreign Minister of Mongolia to Australia would play a vital role in further developing relations and cooperation between the two countries. She also expressed her satisfaction that relations between Mongolia and the Commonwealth of Australia are deepening within the framework of the United Nations and other international organizations. Foreign Minister Penny Wong noted the commitment of Australia to strengthening cooperation with Mongolia in various fields, including gender equality and climate change.

The Parties underlined that the Australia Awards Scholarship is making concrete contributions to Mongolia's social and economic development and the capacity building of its human resources. The Foreign Ministers also noted that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Australia Awards Program in Mongolia, during which more than 700 Mongolians have received the scholarship and the parties agreed to increase the number of awardees starting this year. Noting the successful implementation of the "Work and Holiday" Visa Program, the Foreign Ministers affirmed their mutual commitment to expanding the Visa Program to include more citizens from both countries.

The Mongolian side expressed gratitude to the Australian side for providing AUD 250,000 in humanitarian assistance in response to the adverse humanitarian situation caused by severe flooding in Mongolia. Australia channeled its assistance through the Mongolian Red Cross Society.

During the Mongolian Foreign Minister’s Official Visit to Australia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Mongolia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) of the Commonwealth of Australia signed a Memorandum of Cooperation. The two sides consider the Memorandum of Cooperation as significant in mutual consultations on international and regional issues, exchanging and involving diplomats from Mongolia and Australia in training, and enhancing cooperation between the MFA and the DFAT.

Following the meeting, Foreign Minister B. Battsetseg met with Mongolian students studying in Australia under the Australia Awards Scholarship.

At its regular session on September 13, 2023, the Cabinet approved the Open Skies Agreement between the Governments of Mongolia and the US which was signed by the two sides during the Official Visit of the Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai to the United States of America.

As the Government announced 2023-2025 as the Years to Visit Mongolia, the Ministry of Road and Transport Development set a goal of expanding air transport relations, rapidly increasing flight routes and frequencies in a short period of time, and plans to conclude air transport agreements with about 10 new countries in 2023-2024.

The preparation for the Open Skies Agreement with the United States had been intensified, the draft agreement was discussed and supported at the meeting of the Government on December 07, 2022, and during the Official Visit of the Prime Minister of Mongolia to the United States, the agreement was signed on August 4, 2023. The establishment of the legal foundation for direct flights between the two countries through the Open Skies Agreement opens opportunities for increasing the cash inflow, improving the competitiveness of national air carriers and expanding the air transport relationships and flight network, in addition to enabling the passengers to have pleasant travel at a low cost.

The International Conference "Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue 2023: Energy Security" started yesterday in Seoul, South Korea.

In his opening speech the 8th Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon said that due to climate change, up to 70 percent of the world's population and animals face the risk of extinction. The average global air temperature has increased by 2.1 degrees, and it is not possible to predict this trend by 2050. Therefore, introduction of an improved carbon neutralization technology has become a priority.

Participating as the keynote speaker of the Conference, the Chairman of the State Great Khural of Mongolia G. Zandanshatar underlined that the main principle of energy security is the combination of energy sustainability and reliable supply of energy that meets our present and future demands. This concept is the basis for ensuring economic growth, social progress and ecological sustainability. The Speaker said that at the time of climate change, geopolitical tension and increasing demand for energy facing the global community, the meaning of the concept of energy security is ever broadening.

Mongolia is determined to expand cooperation in the fields of mineral resources, energy, transport logistics network, and supply of goods to the third market. The parties will closely work together to strengthen relevant legal environments. Through diversification of our energy sources, we will become resilient against supply shortages and price fluctuations. Research and analysis to determine the appropriateness of new energy sources and technologies such as nuclear, natural gas, methane gas, and hydrogen will be intensified. To this end, whilst looking for all opportunities to intensify cooperation in these sectors, the goal of transitioning to green technology is put forward as a priority, concluded the Speaker.

The participants of the Conference held discussions on the topics of International Mapping of Energy Security, Geopolitics and Energy Sustainability, Promoting Energy Security in Asia and the Pacific through Clean Energy Solutions, Clean Energy and Cooperation. Former MP, Director of External Affairs at Green Climate Fund (GCF) S. Oyun and former MP, President of Mitchell Foundation for Arts and Sciences A. Undraa contributed as panelists.

Today the panel discussions are held on the topics: Energy Efficient Technology Solutions, Energy Security, Political Economy of Renewable Energy and Energy Security, Environment and Energy Security: Dialogue with the Future, Education and Energy Security: Dialogue with the Future, Equality and Energy Security: Dialogue with the Future.

Over 160 representatives from seven countries are participating in the International Conference "Trans-Pacific Sustainability Dialogue 2023: Energy Security", reports the Media and Public Relations Department of the State Great Khural.

In an era of Instagram tourism, some young people are searching for less curated travel experiences. So they’re flocking to the open spaces of this East Asian nation.

It was near midnight, in a storm, on a dirt road in the middle of Mongolia. Still, the river seemed manageable.

My cousin Cole Paullin and I were searching for a place to camp, and I was exhausted from a long day of fording streams in our rented four-by-four truck.

“Seems fine,” I said. “Go for it.”

Cole accelerated and the front tires plunged off an unseen embankment, slamming onto the rocks below. We were perched at a precarious angle, and the front half of the truck was submerged. Water intruded through a crack in the door, lapping onto my feet. I imagined our rental deposit draining downstream.

Drawn by the noise, two young men came over from a nearby tent camp. One waded toward the car into the waist-deep water with a message typed on Google Translate: “This is dangerous.” I was too embarrassed to be scared.

I lent him my rain jacket as he made some calls. Thankfully, there was cellular service. Within an hour, a man with a truck and a tow strap arrived. We reversed at full speed while he accelerated, extricating us from the river.

“That was Disneyland, dude,” said Cole, 27, channeling the slang of his native Los Angeles. “What a ride.”

Cole and I live on different continents — he’s in Philadelphia and I’m in London — but once a year, we convene somewhere new for an outdoors trip. This year, we decided to take a weeklong drive across Mongolia.

Over the past decade, millennials like me — those born between roughly 1981 and 1996 — have been seeking out remote places like Mongolia, while other tourists crowd Santorini, the Eiffel Tower and the Colosseum. It may be a reaction to a world that’s increasingly condensed into our phones, where the same few destinations pop up again and again on Instagram grids and travel blogs. What we have gained in accessibility, we have lost in serendipity.

The Mongolian government has been trying to capitalize on this desire for less curated travel. It has invested in a digital marketing campaign targeting people ages 23 to 40. It has also invited social media influencers to come to Mongolia and post videos of the country’s verdant valleys, Caribbean-blue lakes and orange sand dunes. According to a 2019 survey cited by Mongolia’s tourism ministry, 49 percent of visitors to the country were under 40.

Tour operators are catering to this growing interest, helping young people see the Golden Eagle Festival, an annual gathering of nomadic hunters — male and female — and their eagles; join the Mongol Rally, a driving odyssey across Europe and Asia; or ride in the Mongol Derby, a roughly 600-mile horse race.

“The world is getting smaller, and everyone’s looking for the new frontier,” said Sangjay Choegyal, a 36-year-old living in Bali who has visited Mongolia eight times. “The next place is Mongolia.”

The writer’s rented UAZ pickup truck with a rooftop tent on what is considered a good road near the town of Orgil.

A magnet for adventure seekers

When Cole and I arrived in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, in late July, the line for foreign arrivals crowded the new immigration hall at the airport.

Olivia Hankel, a 25-year-old woman from Oregon, had come to train for the Mongol Derby. Willie Freimuth, a 28-year-old paleontology student from North Carolina, had returned for a second year to study fossils. And Mr. Choegyal had flown in with friends for a road trip to the Orkhon Valley, a lush expanse of central Mongolia.

“When you talk about a trip to Mongolia, it always fills up pretty quick,” Mr. Choegyal said.

Last year, Mongolia had nearly 250,000 visitors, more than six times as many as the year before, when the country was emerging from pandemic isolation. The majority of those visitors were from nearby countries, including Russia, South Korea and Kazakhstan. But the number of visitors from Europe and the United States rose more than 500 percent between 2021 and 2022.

“I think you can have a much more interesting, transformative and engaging experience in a Mongolian outhouse than you can at the Taj Mahal,” said Tom Morgan, the founder of the Adventurists, a company that hosts extreme trips in the country. And, he advised, “It’s better not to plan.”

Erdene Zuu, likely Mongolia’s oldest surviving Buddhist monastery, is nestled in the Orkhon Valley, where Genghis Khan chose to locate Karakorum, the capital of his empire, in 1220.

The eaves and roof of a temple structure viewed from below. The bottom eaves are red with blue and green beams. The middle section has blue cylinders with green crescents between them. The top section has green cylinders and crescents. At the top, there is an image of a golden wheel on a circular blue background.

One of the buildings at Erdene Zuu Monastery in Karakorum.

A tent with four tires

Cole and I hadn’t planned much. We arrived with only our backpacks and a rental car booking from Sixt — one we weren’t sure was real. Sixt’s Mongolian offices operate by bank transfer, and before we arrived, we had sent more than $2,000 to their account. I worried it could be a scam.

We were relieved when we arrived at Sixt and found it had our booking. Then we got the bad news: A previous group had wrecked the S.U.V. we had requested. A 3,000-mile trip on the country’s many dirt tracks had destroyed the bottom of the car. The agent offered us a Russian-made UAZ pickup truck equipped with a rooftop tent. It didn’t have a stereo and the air-conditioning was a faint stream of hot air, but it was sturdy.

We were lucky to get it. Sixt was almost fully booked — as were other providers in the city.

“We sold out three times this season. So we added more dates,” Max Muench, 31, a co-founder of the travel company Follow the Tracks, said. His company, which started running tours last year, helps clients book cars and gives them tablets loaded with maps they can use to navigate while offline. “Especially now after Covid, people want to feel a sense of freedom again,” he said. “And they’re looking for it in the vast emptiness of Mongolia.”

A section of the off-road drive between Orgil and Murun. Outside the capital, the Mongolian countryside is largely open and populated by nomads.

Nomads guided by Google Maps

We soon discovered what that emptiness looked like.

Roughly half of the country’s more than 3.2 million people live in the overcrowded capital, a tangle of roads and new high-rises fraying in every direction. But around a quarter of Mongolia remains nomadic, living on the edgeless steppe in gers, round tents made of wood, tarp, and animal skins or fabric. They move with their herds as many as four times a year.

As we drove out of the city, guided by Google Maps, the sky stretched so wide the horizon seemed to curve. A herd of horses gnawed at the grass, swishing their tails at flies. We were seeking out the herd’s distant relatives as we aimed the truck toward Hustai National Park, a refuge for what the Smithsonian calls the last truly wild horses left in the world.

After nearly an hour on a dirt road, we pulled up to a small, dusty entrance gate. I asked the national park manager, Batzaya Batchuluun, if visitors ever had a hard time finding the place. “Most people come with a guide. But young people like you are starting to show up on their own,” he said. “They have phones. They get here eventually.”

Mongolia is surprisingly connected. Despite the long stretches between villages, we got cellular internet service on much of our drive (using a Mongolian SIM card). One day as I was watching camels in the desert, I was even able to do something absurd: Try my luck with Ticketmaster for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour tickets. (Like so many others, I was disappointed.)

Chuluut Gorge, just off a paved highway, is a popular stop for Mongolians on road trips across the country. Many visitors enjoy a picnic near the gorge before continuing to Terkhiin Tsagaan Lake.

The Mongolian government has been working to expand online access to citizens and tourists. An estimated 84 percent of the country has access to the internet, and gers often have solar panels, keeping each family’s cellphones charged. The government has also been working to pave the roads from Ulaanbaatar to popular destinations.

All that development has allowed young travelers to roam the country more freely, bringing a different kind of nomad to the steppe. The day after our visit to the wild horses, as we explored Genghis Khan’s ancient capital, Karakorum, we met a group of European women, friends from college on a two-week road trip. They, too, chose to eschew a guide and navigate with their phones.

“We didn’t want a trip where everything is organized for you,” Maria Galí Reniu, a 31-year-old from Spain, said. Hanna Winkler, a 30-year-old from Austria, chimed in: “On our own, we can just pull off anywhere we decide is a nice camp spot.”

Inside the home of a woman from the Tsaatan community, a group of reindeer herders who follow their animals across the steppe near Russian Siberia, moving with the seasons.

A horse race and a hailstorm

Cole and I also pulled off where we liked. At night, we camped under the Milky Way, arching bright above our rooftop tent. During the day, we made lunch in golden canola fields or next to winding rivers. In Elsen Tasarkhai, a long stretch of sand known as the mini-Gobi Desert, we rode two-humped Bactrian camels.

Halfway through our trip, I persuaded Cole to detour to Tsenkher hot springs, a popular destination for Mongolians. Nearly an hour down a dirt road, we came across a crowd of children, bobbing on horses. Drawing closer, we saw they had numbers pinned to their shirts.

One girl and 41 boys, ages 8 and up, gathered for a race. The families used their cars and motorcycles to herd the horses to the starting line. Parents smiled and motioned for us to follow as they lined up their cars next to the horses. When the horses took off, we did too, speeding across the grass alongside the racers at nearly 50 miles per hour.

A boy competing in a horse race during the Naadam Festival, which brings nomadic families together every summer for races, archery and wrestling competitions. Spectators driving in vehicles alongside the racers can reach 50 miles per hour.

Just as the first horse crossed the finish line, it began to hail. What would have been a celebration turned into an exodus. Some of the riders crossed the finish line and then headed straight into the hills, braving pellets of ice.

As we drove on toward the hot springs, torrential rain overpowered the windshield wipers, and we began to slide. We passed Priuses, a favorite car in Mongolia, mired on the roadsides. Each time we forded a swollen river, the water rose closer to the cab, until we got stuck and it finally leaked in.

The storm had also flooded the hot springs. As we shivered in a tepid pool, one English-speaking boy commiserated: “Sorry you missed the hot water.”

Erdenesukh Tserendash, who goes by the nickname Umbaa, with his horses above Khuvsgul Lake. The writer and her cousin stayed with Umbaa’s family and joined him on a full-day horse ride.

Along came a spider

After days of slow, off-road driving, we finally arrived at sparkling blue Khuvsgul Lake — our final destination. We wanted to spend the night in a ger, so we called Erdenesukh Tserendash, a 43-year-old horse herder who goes by the nickname Umbaa. His number was on Facebook.

Umbaa, his wife and two sons welcomed us into one of his family’s tents, lit by bulbs hooked to car batteries. For dinner, the family served boiled sheep and horse meat on a communal tray with carrots and potatoes. After dinner, they cracked open the bones and sucked out the marrow, and before bed, we sipped tea with yak milk. As I lay there scrolling, in the light of my phone, I noticed something on my face and swatted. It was a spider the size of a quarter.

The next day, Umbaa took us on a full-day horse ride. We cantered across meadows of wildflowers, saw reindeer and climbed a mountain overlooking the lake, lazing in the sun for lunch, an idyllic finale to our journey.

Back in Ulaanbaatar, the wildflowers seemed far away as I stood with the Sixt agent and worried about the truck. Was there any damage from getting stuck in the river? The truck was so covered in mud and dust, it was hard to tell.

I thought back to the wrecked S.U.V. we were originally supposed to rent and braced myself to lose our deposit, more than $1,400. The agent waved away my fears. Everything was fine, he said. Getting stuck was just standard driving in Mongolia.

His shift was over, so he offered us a ride to the airport. We thought we had plenty of time to make it, but the grinding traffic in Ulaanbaatar almost made us miss our flight. It was one last reminder that in Mongolia, little goes as planned.

BY: Lauren Jackson is a writer for The Morning newsletter, based in London.

The Government of Mongolia does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so. The government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared to the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore Mongolia remained on Tier 2. These efforts included prosecuting and convicting more traffickers and identifying more victims. The government also improved information sharing and coordination among ministries and with international partners and revised the law to provide legal assistance to adult and child trafficking victims. Courts increased court-ordered restitution to trafficking victims. However, the government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Authorities investigated fewer trafficking cases and did not prosecute any alleged labor traffickers; courts did not convict a labor trafficker for the third consecutive year. For at least the 11th consecutive year, the government did not formally identify any male victims. Overlapping and at times conflicting criminal code articles complicated anti-trafficking judicial processes and continued to incentivize prosecutions and convictions under lesser charges.

PRIORITIZED RECOMMENDATIONS:

Increase efforts to implement and train officials on Articles 12.3 and 13.1 of the criminal code to investigate and prosecute sex trafficking and forced labor crimes – including those detected through child labor inspections and hotlines and handled in partnership with law enforcement counterparts in common destination countries – rather than under alternative administrative or criminal provisions that prescribe lower penalties.

Review and amend anti-trafficking laws to eliminate conflicting or overlapping penalty provisions.

Fully implement SOPs for victim identification and referral to protective services and train government officials, including police, immigration officers, child rights officers, and labor authorities, on their use to protect men and boys, foreign workers, domestic and foreign nationals transiting major border crossing areas, domestic coal transport workers, women and children living in mining communities, and LGBTQI+ persons.

Improve coordination and information-sharing among anti-trafficking agencies, including police, prosecutors, and social services.

Amend relevant laws to ensure victims have access to protection services regardless of whether officials initiate formal criminal proceedings against the alleged traffickers.

Enact policies to fully institutionalize, make permanent, and allocate resources for the anti-trafficking Multidisciplinary Task Force (MDTF) by codifying it in the Law on Child Protection or formalizing it through regulations.

Amend Articles 16.1 and 16.4 of the criminal code to increase prescribed penalties such that they are in line with penalties for other child trafficking crimes.

Amend Article 8 of the Labor Law to align its definitions with preexisting anti-trafficking laws, including by eliminating exemptions for compulsory labor in basic landscaping and cleaning.

Allocate increased funding to support and expand both government and NGO-run shelters and other forms of victim assistance, including for male and LGBTQI+ victims.

Strengthen efforts to monitor the working conditions of foreign workers in Mongolia and screen them for labor trafficking indicators, including by increasing funding, resources, and training for labor inspectors and allowing them to conduct unannounced inspections.

PROSECUTION

The government slightly increased law enforcement efforts. Article 13.1 of the criminal code criminalized sex trafficking and labor trafficking; it prescribed penalties of two to eight years’ imprisonment for offenses involving an adult victim and five to 12 years’ imprisonment for those involving a child victim. These penalties were sufficiently stringent and, with respect to sex trafficking, commensurate with those prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. Other provisions of the criminal code additionally criminalized some forms of labor and sex trafficking. Article 13.13 separately criminalized forced labor and prescribed fines, community service, probation, and/or one to five years’ imprisonment. Article 12.3 of the criminal code criminalized sexual exploitation offenses, including some forms of sex trafficking; penalties ranged from two to eight years’ imprisonment for trafficking offenses involving individuals older than the age of 14, and 12 to 20 years’ imprisonment for those involving children younger than the age of 14. As in prior years, authorities sometimes prosecuted trafficking crimes under statutes carrying lesser penalties. Articles 16.1 and 16.4 criminalized “inducing a child to the committing of a crime” and “forcing a child into begging,” respectively; they both prescribed penalties of a travel ban for one to five years or one to five years’ imprisonment. In previous years, some prosecutors reportedly charged child forced begging cases as misdemeanors, rather than as more serious offenses. Observers noted complex case initiation and referral procedures, restrictions on contact between anti-trafficking police and prosecutors, judicial officials’ general unfamiliarity with anti-trafficking laws, rapid turnover of investigators, and criminal code articles with overlapping and often conflicting definitions and penalty provisions at times hindered investigations and prosecutions.

The government initiated 12 sex trafficking and child sex trafficking investigations involving at least 20 alleged perpetrators (compared with 45 investigations involving 51 alleged perpetrators in 2021. The government did not report if any investigations resulted from police raids on saunas, massage parlors, hotels, karaoke bars, and other venues suspected of facilitating commercial sex (seven investigations resulting from raids in 2021). The government reported police monitoring of sex solicitation on social media led to 52 investigations; however, these cases were grouped with other pornography cases and it was unclear how many occurred on social media (23 investigations in 2021). Authorities initiated a new investigation into a case of alleged forced child labor in hazardous work, which may have amounted to labor trafficking; the case involved at least one alleged perpetrator and one child victim (compared with two forced labor investigations in 2021). Authorities investigated an additional 52 cases of unspecified forms of exploitation, some of which may have amounted to trafficking, involving 37 alleged perpetrators (compared with 41 cases and 51 perpetrators in 2021). Authorities initiated prosecution of 50 defendants for alleged sex trafficking crimes, including 10 defendants under Article 12.3, 19 defendants under 12.6, and 21 under Article 13.1 (compared with 22 in 2021, including four under Article 12.3, eight under Article 12.6, and 10 under Article 13.1). In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported prosecuting 24 defendants under Articles 16.8 and 16.9 (“Advertising and dissemination of pornography or prostitution, inducement to a child” and “Advertising and dissemination of pornography or prostitution involving a child”), which carried lesser penalties; authorities did not provide sufficient detail to ascertain whether these cases featured trafficking elements according to international definitional standards. The government did not report how many proceedings initiated in previous reporting periods remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period (compared with 19 ongoing proceedings reported in the previous year). There were no prosecutions of an alleged forced labor crime under Article 13.13 (compared with one prosecution in 2021). Courts convicted 35 individuals for trafficking-related crimes in 2022 – an increase from 27 in 2021. Courts convicted 22 individuals under anti-trafficking articles, including 13 under Article 12.3 and 9 under Article 13.1, compared to three and 10, respectively, in 2021; they did not convict any labor traffickers for the third consecutive year (three in 2019). Courts also convicted 13 individuals under Articles 16.8 and 16.9; authorities did not provide sufficient detail to ascertain whether these cases featured trafficking elements according to international definitional standards. Courts reportedly sentenced 13 traffickers to terms ranging from three to five years’ imprisonment under Article 12.3; 16 traffickers were released on bail and one trafficker sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment under Article 12.6; nine traffickers to terms ranging from one to eight years’ imprisonment under Article 13.1; and five traffickers to terms ranging from six months to three years’ imprisonment, four traffickers to fines, and four traffickers to community service under Articles 16.8 and 16.9 (compared with sentencing three traffickers to terms ranging from three to eight years’ imprisonment under Article 12.3; 10 traffickers to terms ranging from six months to 20 years’ imprisonment under Article 13.1; and four traffickers to terms ranging from six months to five years’ imprisonment under Articles 16.8 and 16.9 in 2021). Courts ordered a total of 22.46 million Mongolian tugrik (MNT) ($6,520) as restitution payments to 34 victims as part of sentencing under Articles 12.3, 13.1, and 16.8 (compared with 3.6 million MNT, or $1,050, under unspecified articles to three victims in 2021). In 2022, courts changed at least three cases initially investigated and prosecuted under Article 13.1 to prosecutions under Article 12.3, which imposed lower sentences for perpetrators once convicted under these lesser charges and frequently resulted in imprisonment in lower security prisons; in these three cases, courts sentenced four traffickers to three to five years‘ imprisonment and six traffickers to one to three years‘ imprisonment in low security prisons, and three traffickers to three to five years’ imprisonment in high security prisons. There were unverified allegations of police complicity in trafficking crimes leading to an investigation that remained ongoing at the end of the reporting period. In prior years, officials who facilitated or abetted forced labor crimes received administrative sanctions in lieu of criminal penalties.

Authorities continued to categorize certain crimes as trafficking based on Mongolia’s more expansive legal definitions, culminating in law enforcement data that at times included cases involving child pornography, sexual extortion, and “organizing prostitution”; some of these cases also included trafficking elements in line with international definitional standards. In recent years, due to the misconception among many government officials that traffickers only exploit women and girls crossing borders, authorities rarely used Articles 12.3 or 13.1 to prosecute cases in which traffickers targeted male victims and instead used provisions with less stringent penalties. Civil society representatives reported various judicial entities often maintained conflicting or incomplete data on anti-trafficking case registration and history.

The National Police Agency (NPA) had an anti-trafficking police unit that investigated trafficking crimes under Criminal Code Articles 12.3, 13.1, and 15.3; a separate NPA cyber-crime division was assigned to investigate crimes under Articles 16.8 and 16.9. The Prosecutor General’s Office was primarily responsible for prosecuting traffickers and had a division assigned to specialize in supervising investigations of trafficking crimes and prosecuting trafficking cases. The police and prosecutors met to discuss complex trafficking cases in order to overcome legal barriers that delayed prosecutions.

The government continued organizing, facilitating, and providing funding and in-kind support for specialized training courses for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and immigration officials on trafficking. Observers continued to describe an acute need for additional training, resources, and dedicated personnel to properly handle trafficking cases. Mongolia maintained mutual legal assistance agreements with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Russia, Thailand, the Republic of Korea (ROK), and Malaysia but did not provide data on their implementation.

PROTECTION

The government increased efforts to protect victims. According to available data, police identified 56 female victims, 49 women exploited in sex trafficking and seven girls exploited in child sex trafficking. This compared with identifying 45 female victims of unspecified forms of trafficking in 2021. The seven identified girl trafficking victims younger than the age of 18 marked a decrease in the identification of child victims for the second consecutive year (14 girls younger than the age of 18 identified in 2021 and 24 in 2020). Due to a lack of formal identification procedures, authorities likely detained and arrested some unidentified trafficking victims, particularly girl sex trafficking victims. NGOs indicated victim identification and referral procedures were vague, not sufficiently systematic, and often depended largely on the awareness and initiative of individual officers. In April 2022, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection (MLSP) adopted new guidelines and procedures for victim identification and referral to services; social workers and child protection workers began using the procedures. NPA investigators continued to use a victim identification checklist; however, use of this checklist was sporadic, and the process did not include screening of vulnerable groups. Additionally, district and provincial police lacked training on the checklist and local police may not have identified and referred victims to NPA investigators. Police, social workers, and labor inspectors reportedly identified 317 cases of child labor in hazardous work during joint inspections (a significant increase from one case identified in 2021), some of which may have amounted to trafficking. The government reported directly providing or referring all the children to protection services. Neither the government nor the primary service provider NGO identified any male victims for the 11th consecutive year, despite continued NGO reports of trafficking of men and boys. Authorities did not report identifying any foreign victims.

Government officials lacked training on how to identify and refer to care child victims of forced labor. Authorities at times collected discrepant data based on conflicting definitions of trafficking according to overlapping criminal code provisions, which in turn created bureaucratic challenges to supporting survivors. Redirection of human and financial resources to the pandemic response and public unrest at times negatively affected the capacity of front-line officers to identify victims of trafficking, particularly among child victims of forced labor.

The government allocated 30 million MNT ($8,710) to fund NGOs to provide shelter, psycho-social and medical care, and legal assistance. Authorities reported referring 19 child trafficking victims to government and NGO-run shelter services (compared with three children referred to government shelter services in 2021). NGOs continued to provide the vast majority of Mongolia’s limited victim services, in some cases with government assistance. NGOs reported assisting 45 sex trafficking and child sex trafficking victims, including 28 women and 17 girls. Civil society contacts expressed concern Mongolia’s complex referral system could have re-traumatized some victims due to the requirement they repeatedly recount their abuses at various stages. There were two NGO-run trafficking-specific shelters. The government operated 34 low-capacity temporary shelters and one-stop service centers for women and child victims of domestic and sexual abuse, including one NPA-operated shelter for victims of sexual violence and one temporary shelter operated by the Family, Child, and Youth Development Agency (FCYDA) for children, both of which could provide temporary shelter for trafficking victims. Authorities referred some victims from government-run shelters to NGO shelters for longer-term services. NGOs also operated two shelters for women and children escaping prostitution or sex trafficking; one of these shelters closed during the reporting period due to a security breach. There were no shelters for persons with disabilities, men, or the LGBTQI+ community. In practice, LGBTQI+ victims could receive shelter if they were minors, women, able to pass as cisgender women, and did not explicitly reveal their sexuality.

The Criminal Procedure and Law on Victim and Witness Protection provided protections for the physical security and privacy of victims and witnesses. The NPA anti-trafficking unit reported referring some trafficking victims to witness and victim protection services in 2022. Article 8.1 of the criminal procedural code included language that reportedly denied trafficking victims’ access to protective services until prosecutors had initiated cases against alleged traffickers, thereby potentially obstructing access to protective services for some victims. In prior years, some officials claimed victims could still access protection services regardless of whether relevant prosecutions had begun. Authorities did not provide victims with alternatives to speaking with law enforcement during investigations. Victims could provide testimony via video or written statements and could obtain employment and move freely within Mongolia, or leave the country pending trial proceedings; the government did not report any victims receiving these services during the reporting period. The government revised the Law on Legal Assistance to provide legal assistance to indigent and child trafficking victims. Article 15 of the anti-trafficking law entitled victims to compensation from traffickers, but officials and NGOs stated inconsistencies between the criminal code and the civil code made this provision impossible to fully implement. Mongolia’s Immigration Agency, the General Authority for Border Protection, and the Consular Department within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs shared responsibility for handling cases involving Mongolian trafficking victims abroad. The latter maintained a fund to assist Mongolian victims, but it was only available in cases involving organized crime syndicates or “grave harm” – a distinction that was unclear in application. In 2022, authorities partnered with NGOs to repatriate 12 Mongolian victims from Burma, compared with two Mongolian victims repatriated from Malaysia in 2021. Authorities did not repatriate any foreign victims in 2022 (at least one victim each to Fiji, the Philippines, and Burma in 2021).

Authorities charged sex trafficking victims with commercial sex offences committed as a direct result of being trafficked. Observers noted some victims did not self-report or testify due to fear they could face prosecution. Mongolian law did not provide legal alternatives to the removal of foreign victims to countries in which they could face retribution or hardship.

PREVENTION

The government maintained efforts to prevent trafficking. The government did not have a NAP; the government’s most recent NAP ended in 2021. The National Sub-Council, which had directed the previous NAP, met once during 2022. The MDTF, comprising 18 government and NGO representatives, adopted a Strategic Action Plan for 2022 to combat child trafficking. The MDTF met quarterly. In September, the MDTF assessed its progress on the Strategic Action Plan; the MDTF did not make the results available to the public. In 2022, the MDTF opened three child friendly spaces in police stations and provided guidelines for their use; conducted human trafficking monitoring at Mongolia’s international airport; and, in collaboration with NGOs and the Ministry of Education, trained teachers to prevent trafficking. Civil society observers continued to call on the government to issue policy guidance or enact legislation to make the MDTF a permanent entity. The government budgeted 227.8 million MNT ($66,170) to the Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs (MOJHA) for anti-trafficking efforts for 2022; the National Sub-Council reported providing 30 million MNT ($8,710) to NGOs, 20 million MNT ($5,810) for awareness-raising activities, and 145.5 million MNT ($42,260) for purchasing equipment for the forensic institute (the government had previously budgeted 432 million MNT [$125,460] for implementation of the former National Anti-Trafficking Program’s activities, however, 96.4 million MNT [$28,000] of this was redirected to pandemic response expenses). In conjunction with international organizations and foreign donors, the government supported and participated in three research programs to inform its anti-trafficking coordination and assess prior efforts (compared with four studies in 2021); the final results of the assessments were not finalized at the end of the reporting period. The Prosecutor General’s Office also initiated two analytic studies on trafficking case prosecutions. Officials continued to disseminate a daily trafficking-themed public service announcement on social media and television, which included a Coordination Council for Crime Prevention-directed public awareness campaign on social media.

The government funded an NGO to maintain a hotline system; the NGO identified two victims through the hotline and referred them to services. FCYDA ran another 24-hour hotline that coordinated referrals to special welfare and protection, emergency response, and shelter services for child victims. The FCYDA hotline received 9,294 calls, including six calls on possible cases of child sex trafficking and 251 calls on cases of hazardous child labor, and the FCYDA reported referring 57 percent to child protection joint teams for services; some of these cases could have featured forced labor indicators. The government did not report if any of these calls led to police investigations.

The MLSP’s General Agency for Labor and Social Welfare had the authority to monitor labor agreements for foreign nationals working in Mongolia, as well as those for Mongolians working in countries that had bilateral work agreements with Mongolia. The government maintained such agreements with the ROK and Japan; observers noted authorities did not always sufficiently implement these agreements to prevent labor abuses, including trafficking. In October, the government dissolved the General Authority for Specialized Investigation (GASI) – which had the authority to inspect labor contracts, monitor compliance with the law for all workers in Mongolia, and conduct inspections of working conditions in Mongolian formal sector establishments – and amended the Law on State Inspection to reallocate all state inspectors from GASI to their respective sectoral ministries, similar to the system in place prior to 2004. Private sector and NGO inspectors, supervised by a new Internal Monitoring Agency, conducted inspections that did not fall under specific ministries. Observers stated the new inspection process might make oversight of the smaller units more difficult and assessed this change led to fewer formal labor inspections during 2022. NGOs noted funding and resources for the inspectors were too low to provide comprehensive oversight. The government reported conducting 39 formal child labor inspections and 1,835 preventative assessments during 2022 but did not report formally referring any child victims of forced labor cases for investigation. Labor laws gave inspectors “unrestricted access to legal entities, organizations, and workplaces which are subject to inspection without prior notice,” however, the law still required inspectors to give employers two days’ advance notification before conducting an inspection in some cases, raising concerns employers could conceal violations in the interim. The labor law contained a provision outlining inspections without prior notification, but the government did not report implementing it in 2022. Labor laws explicitly prohibited labor agents from charging workers recruitment fees, confiscating workers’ identity or travel documentation, switching their contracts without consent, or garnishing or withholding their wages as collateral; authorities did not report information on implementation of these provisions.

TRAFFICKING PROFILE:

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Mongolia, and they exploit victims from Mongolia abroad. Traffickers may also use Mongolia as a transit point to exploit foreign individuals in sex trafficking and forced labor in Russia and the PRC prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. From January 2020 to January 2023, the Mongolia-PRC border closed to passenger and pedestrian traffic due to pandemic-related mitigation polices; during this time, observers reported transnational trafficking decreased and domestic trafficking reportedly increased. As of March 2023, most restrictions on border travel have been lifted but volume remains limited. Most sex trafficking of Mongolian victims from rural and poor economic areas occurs in Ulaanbaatar, provincial centers, and border areas. A 2018 civil society survey found domestic violence drives the vast majority of Mongolian trafficking victims to seek and accept unsafe employment opportunities on which traffickers prey; this vulnerability reportedly increased as a result of state-ordered residential quarantines during the pandemic. During periods of pandemic-related business closures, clandestine sex trafficking in private residences reportedly increased, including through the use of blackmail on social media as a coercive method. Traffickers exploit women and girls in sex trafficking in Mongolian hotels, massage parlors, illegal brothels, bars, and karaoke clubs, as well as in outdoor urban areas, sometimes through the lack of enforcement of local police. Traffickers often utilize online platforms to lure, groom, or blackmail Mongolian children into domestic sex trafficking. LGBTQI+ individuals are vulnerable to trafficking amid widespread discrimination that often jeopardizes their employment status and complicates their access to justice. Transgender women in particular are at higher risk of sex trafficking due to pervasive social stigma barring them from employment in the formal sector. Mongolian communities experiencing widespread unemployment due to the pandemic – especially women and informal sector workers – were more vulnerable to sex trafficking and forced labor. Tourists from Japan and the ROK reportedly engaged in child sex tourism in Mongolia in prior years; some civil society groups believe this practice persists, however pandemic-related flight restrictions and public health requirements likely limited the number of tourists traveling to Mongolia for child sex tourism between January 2020 and January 2023.

The ongoing development of the mining industry in southern Mongolia continues to drive growing internal migration, intensifying trafficking vulnerabilities. Prior to the pandemic, this was especially the case along the PRC-Mongolia border, but stringent border restrictions severely limited movement across the border between January 2020 and January 2023. Truck drivers transporting coal across the PRC border in Omnogovi Province who do not own their trucks are vulnerable to labor traffickers due to an arrangement under which employers confiscate their passports as collateral for their vehicles. Prior to pandemic-related Mongolia-PRC border closures in January 2020, coal drivers often waited in truck lines with minimal sleep, heating, or access to basic needs for weeks or months at a time until they received permission to cross and make deliveries in the PRC, where PRC-national employers and customers imposed wage deductions for the delays; this loss of income reportedly made them further vulnerable to labor exploitation. The families of coal transporters who were delayed at the border, who were injured, or who died as a result of the poor working conditions may also be vulnerable to sex trafficking due to ensuing economic hardships. Traffickers exploit women and girls in sex trafficking in these truck lines, along the coal transport roads connecting mining sites to the PRC border, at nightlife establishments in mining towns, and, in previous years, at entertainment sites across the border in Inner Mongolia. Mining workers sometimes leave their children at home alone while on extended shift rotations, during which time the children are at elevated risk of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking and child forced labor also occur in connection with artisanal mining. Some men in predominantly ethnic Kazakh regions of western Mongolia subject local women and girls to abduction and forced marriage as part of a cultural practice known as Ala kachuu, or “grab and run”; some of these forced marriages may feature corollary sex trafficking or forced labor elements. Traffickers force some children to beg, steal, or work in other informal sectors of the Mongolian economy, such as horseracing, herding and animal husbandry, scavenging in garbage dumpsites, and construction. Some Mongolian families are complicit in exploiting children in sex trafficking and forced labor.

Traffickers exploit Mongolian men, women, and children in forced labor and sex trafficking in the PRC, ROK, Türkiye as well as other countries in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the United States. Officials believe Türkiye may be rising in prevalence as a destination country due to visa-free travel regimes, the availability of direct flights, and shifts in migration trends following the pandemic-related closure of the PRC border. Traffickers sometimes use drugs, fraudulent social networking, online job opportunities, or English language programs to lure Mongolian victims into sex trafficking abroad. Traffickers have forced Mongolian girls to work as contortionists – often under contractual agreements signed by their parents – primarily in Mongolia and Türkiye, and to a lesser extent in Hong Kong and Singapore.

Prior to the pandemic-related Mongolia-PRC border closure, Mongolian boys were at high risk of forced labor and sex trafficking under visa regimes that enable them to work indefinitely as horse jockeys and circus performers across the PRC border, provided they return with a chaperone once a month; this frequent facilitated transit also makes them more vulnerable to trafficking. Traffickers compelled women and girls to work in domestic service and engage in commercial sex acts after entering into commercially brokered marriages with men from the PRC and, to a lesser extent, the ROK. PRC-based companies hired Mongolian men and boys to work at agricultural operations for compensation far below minimum wage and under ambiguous immigration status, placing them at high risk of trafficking. Some micro-lending institutions in the PRC reportedly retained Mongolians’ passports as a form of collateral, leaving them vulnerable to immigration status-related coercion.

While pandemic-related border closures greatly limited the presence of foreign workers, PRC national workers employed in Mongolia are vulnerable to trafficking as contract laborers in construction, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, wholesale and retail trade, automobile maintenance, and mining. In prior years, some of them experienced contract switching when they entered the country, making them especially vulnerable to coercion due to ensuing immigration violations. When the border was open, some Russian and Ukrainian women entering Mongolia through PRC border crossings for short periods under visa-free regimes may have been sex trafficking victims. Observers report corruption among some Mongolian officials impedes the government’s anti-trafficking efforts.

FUJIFILM Corporation (President and CEO, Representative Director: Teiichi Goto) announces the upcoming opening of a new "NURA" health screening center focusing on cancer and lifestyle diseases screening in Mongolia.

The opening of the center follows the conclusion of a technology partnership contract between the Fujifilm subsidiary FUJIFILM DKH LLP, which operates three NURA centers in India, and Tavan Bogd Group, a Mongolian conglomerate. Under the partnership contract, the Tavan Bogd Group will open a NURA health screening center in Ulaanbaatar on September 17, 2023.

By expanding its health screening service business, Fujifilm aims to contribute toward the early detection of cancer and lifestyle diseases in emerging countries. The new NURA center in Mongolia will be the first center opened under a technology partnership contract.

Exterior of the new NURA

CT scan at NURA

In Mongolia, cancer and lifestyle diseases such as ischemic heart disease are leading causes of death*1. The number of patients dying or falling critically ill as a result of these diseases can be reduced through early disease detection followed by appropriate treatment and health guidance. However, health screening services in Mongolia are not as widely available as in Japan, which frequently makes it difficult to detect diseases in their early stages.

Fujifilm will share its expertise it has gained from operating NURA centers in India with the Tavan Bogd Group that has worked with Fujifilm in its photo imaging business since 1995. Fujifilm and the Tavan Bogd Group will work together to create an environment that supports the delivery of high-quality screening services in Mongolia and contribute to the early detection of cancer and lifestyle diseases in Mongolia. In addition, Fujifilm and the Tavan Bogd Group will work to promote the adoption of a health screening culture in Mongolia.

About "NURA" health screening center

Fujifilm has been providing health screening services in India, with three NURA centers in the cities of Bengaluru, Gurugram and Mumbai, which were opened in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. NURA utilizes Fujifilm's medical devices including CT scan and mammography system, as well as medical IT system based on AI technology that are designed to support doctors carry out screening and tests for cancer and lifestyle diseases. The convenience of completing all checks in just about 120 minutes and hearing results directly from a doctor while viewing diagnostic images has been highly acclaimed, and NURA has already been used by about 12,000 people.

Fujifilm will continue to establish new NURA health screening centers in emerging countries in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, working where necessary in partnership with other companies where effective. Through NURA centers equipped with Fujifilm's medical devices and AI-based medical IT system that provides interpretation assistance to doctors, Fujifilm will continue to provide high-quality services to an increasing number of people, thereby contributing to advancement of global health and maintaining and promoting people's health.

*1 Source: “Global Health Estimates: Life expectancy and leading causes of death and disability” on WHO website.