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Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the early years
of the 21st Century gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Armenia.htm
Armenia is primarily a
source country for women and girls trafficked to the United Arab Emirates
(UAE) and Turkey for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation. Armenian
men and women are trafficked to Russia for the purpose of forced labor. NGOs
reported that Armenian women were also trafficked to Turkey for the purpose
of forced labor. Women from Ukraine and Russia are trafficked to Armenia for
the purpose of forced labor. Victims trafficked to the UAE usually fly to
Dubai from Yerevan or via cities in Russia; the trafficking route to Turkey
is generally via bus through Georgia. A small number of Armenian girls and
boys are trafficked internally for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation
and forced begging. - U.S. State Dept Trafficking in Persons
Report, June, 2009 [full country report] |
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CAUTION: The following
links have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in ***
FEATURED ARTICLE *** Gyumri’s Human Trafficking Victims Varduhi Zakaryan, Hetq Online, January 15,
2007 archive.hetq.am/eng/society/0701-worker.html [accessed 19 January 2011] “Seven of us lived
in one room, where we didn't even have the most basic facilities. We would be
kept partly hungry almost all the time – there would be days when we would
eat dry bread, cabbage stems and even days when we would go hungry. We had
already been working in those conditions for eight months when we learned
that Ararat had not sent any money back to our families, even though he would
swear on his brother's grave that our families were receiving payments
regularly each month,” narrated 42-year old Robert Karapetyan, a resident of
Gyumri. ***
ARCHIVES *** The Department of Labor’s 2004 Findings on
the Worst Forms of Child Labor www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/tda2004/armenia.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] INCIDENCE
AND NATURE OF CHILD LABOR - Trafficking of girls to [276] Minors are sometimes
unaccompanied by their parents, which implies the involvement of corrupt
officials in the trafficking chain. See IOM, Trafficking in Women and
Children from the Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61635.htm [accessed 19 January 2011] TRAFFICKING
IN PERSONS
– According to the general prosecutor's office, at least 80 women were
victims of trafficking in 2004. Trafficking organizations typically recruited
victims with the promise of high paying work in another country. Once in the
country of destination, victims were deprived of their travel documents,
locked in hotel rooms, and told that they must "repay" their
expenses. There were reports of women encouraged to become recruiters for
trafficking rings with a promise of keeping a percentage of their
"earnings." Prostitutes, orphans, the homeless, and those in
difficult financial situations were at particular risk of being trafficked.
Trafficking victims were at greatly increased risk of sexually transmitted
diseases, and some reported incidents of physical violence. Victims reported
that Russian and Armenian border guards were easily bribed or commonly worked
with traffickers. Some prosecutors were also reportedly complicit in
trafficking. There were persistent allegations that senior members of the
prosecutor general's office were susceptible to outside influence. Some
observers asserted agreements between corrupt court officials and traffickers
were also common. There were persistent reports that police employees and
employees of the country's international airport assisted traffickers with
transportation of victims to and through the country. Unlike in previous
years, there were no arrests in these types of cases Concluding
Observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
January 30, 2004 sim.law.uu.nl/SIM/CaseLaw/uncom.nsf/0/431b11a18a3ec535c1256e2e0044014e?OpenDocument [accessed 19 January 2011] [243] The Committee
welcomes the recent efforts made by the State party to combat the phenomenon
of trafficking and sale of children in the State party, including the
establishment of an inter-agency commission to deal with trafficking in women
and children and the amendment of the Criminal Code in April 2003 whereby
trafficking and sexual exploitation are made specific criminal offences.
However, the Committee notes that a comprehensive policy to combat
trafficking in women, girls and boys is still lacking. Furthermore the
Committee is concerned that refugee children and children living in
orphanages may be particularly at risk. Exact data on trafficking victims not
available in Armenia PanARMENIAN, May 8, 2009 www.panarmenian.net/eng/society/news/31336/ [accessed 19 January 2011] The data on
trafficking victims on the Human Trafficking: Panorama.am, 05/09/2007 www.panorama.am/en/law/2007/09/05/gitajoghov/ [accessed 19 January 2011] According to data released
by prosecutor’s office, the cases of trafficking are increasing in number. In
2004, 14 cases were reported, in 2006 – 32 and in the seven months of this
year – 20. Armenian women are
mainly transported for sexual abuse to Dubai, Turkey, Georgia and other
countries. The prosecutor’s office has developed 2007-2008 national program
including comprehensive efforts against trafficking. Gyumri’s Human Trafficking Victims Varduhi Zakaryan, Hetq Online, January 15,
2007 archive.hetq.am/eng/society/0701-worker.html [accessed 19 January 2011] “Seven of us lived
in one room, where we didn't even have the most basic facilities. We would be
kept partly hungry almost all the time – there would be days when we would
eat dry bread, cabbage stems and even days when we would go hungry. We had
already been working in those conditions for eight months when we learned
that Ararat had not sent any money back to our families, even though he would
swear on his brother's grave that our families were receiving payments
regularly each month,” narrated 42-year old Robert Karapetyan, a resident of
Gyumri. Armenian Prosecutor ‘Alarmed’ By Human
Trafficking Karine Kalantarian and Anna Saghabalian,
Radio Free Europe /Radio At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 September 2011] A senior prosecutor
dealing with human trafficking admitted on Wednesday that transport of
Armenian women for sexual exploitation abroad has reached “alarming”
proportions but denied that Armenian law-enforcement authorities are too
lenient towards traffickers. Armenia ratifies Optional Protocol on Sale
of Children UNICEF Media Centre, www.unicef.org/ceecis/media_1512.html [accessed 19 January 2011] President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan today signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, ratified by the National Assembly of Armenia on 28 February2005 Freedom House Country Report - Political Rights: 6 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/armenia [accessed 26 June 2012] Human Rights
Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide www.hrw.org/europecentral-asia/armenia [accessed 19 January 2011] Stop Violence Against Women – Country Page The Advocates for Human Rights, September
24, 2008 [accessed 19 January 2011] Library of Congress Call Number DK509 .A727
1995 lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/amtoc.html [accessed 19 January 2011] The UMCOR Hotline United Methodist Committee on Relief UMCOR,
April 13, 2004 gbgm-umc.org/umcor-hotline/20040413.cfm [accessed 19 January 2011] Russian Police ‘Helping Stop Human
Trafficking From Karine Kalantarian, Radio Free Europe
/Radio At one time this article had been archived
and may possibly still be accessible [here] [accessed 3 September 2011] Growing cooperation
between Russian and Armenian law-enforcement bodies has prevented more than
one hundred Armenian women from being trafficked abroad for sexual
exploitation, Bureau of International Information
Programs, www.america.gov/st/washfile-english/2003/October/20031009160812ruevecert0.4783441.html [accessed 19 January 2011] INTERNATIONAL
ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION RECEIVES $170,000 GRANT - The United
States has provided a $170,000 grant to the International Organization for
Migration's (IOM) Yerevan office to fund two projects to stop human
trafficking in Armenia, according to an October 7 IOM press release. The two projects
will be aimed at raising awareness among potential victims of human trafficking,
strengthening the capacity of personnel at Armenian diplomatic missions to
assist victims of human trafficking, and increasing the capacity of a
national non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provides shelter, support
and counseling to victims. Trapping women and children in world of
prostitution Ann Cahill, Irish Examiner, September 29,
2001 archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2001/09/29/story13721.asp [accessed 19 January 2011] The story in All
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