Human Trafficking in [Armenia Street Children in [Armenia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Armenia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery Republic of Armenia [ Country-by-Country
Reports ] The Armenia is a primarily a source
country for women and girls trafficked to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) and Turkey for the purpose of commercial sexual
exploitation. Armenian men and women are trafficked to Turkey and Russia for
the purpose of forced labor. According to the OSCE,
there has been one documented case of Ukrainian and Russian women trafficked
to Armenia for the purposes of sexual exploitation. Victims trafficked to the
U.A.E. usually fly to Dubai from Yerevan or via
Moscow; the trafficking route to Turkey is generally via bus through Georgia.
Armenian law enforcement reports indicate that destination countries now also
include Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait; however, no official cases involving
these countries as destinations have surfaced. - U.S.
State Dept Trafficking in Persons Report, June, 2007 [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 “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 *** U.S.
Dept of Labor Bureau of International Labor Affairs 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 Bur of Democracy,
Human Rights & Labor - Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2005 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) - 2004 [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. Human
Trafficking: Armenia is Reporting More Cases 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 “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 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 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: 5 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free Human Rights Overview by Human
Rights Watch – Defending Human Rights Worldwide Stop
Violence Against Women – Country Page U.S. Library of Congress
- Country Study ARMENIA: "HUMAN TRAFFICKING IS
RUINOUS" - UMCOR will cooperate with the United Nations and the
government of Armenia in a counter-trafficking program similar to its current
activity in Kosovo. Characterizing human trafficking-- the coercion of
people, usually women and children, into prostitution-- as
"ruinous," a UN official announced the launch of the two-year
project. UMCOR's part will be operation of a safe
house for trafficking survivors. Other program components include raising
public awareness and strengthening the capacity of government agencies to
combat trafficking criminals. Russian
Police ‘Helping Stop Human Trafficking From Armenia’ Growing cooperation between
Russian and Armenian law-enforcement bodies has prevented more than one
hundred Armenian women from being trafficked abroad for sexual exploitation,
Russia’s Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliev said on
Friday. Nurgaliev
said “criminal groups” neutralized in joint Russian-Armenian police
operations planned to transport the mostly young women to third countries,
mainly the United Arab Emirates, via Russia. He revealed that members of one
such group, allegedly intent on forcing six Armenians into prostitution in
the Gulf state, were arrested as recently as on June 24. He did not give
details. U.S. Supports Projects to Stop Human Trafficking in Armenia 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 The story in Georgia is similar
but while most of the Armenian victims end up in Turkey and the United Arab
Emirates working as prostitutes, the Georgians end up in EU countries
including Greece, Spain, France, Holland, Germany, Britain, Ireland and
Belgium. All material used herein
reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC §
107 for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use |
Human Trafficking in [Armenia Street Children in [Armenia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Armenia] [other countries]