Human Trafficking in [Armenia Street Children in [Armenia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Armenia] [other countries] |
Human Trafficking & Modern-day Slavery In the first ten years of the 21st
Century - 2000 to 2009
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 “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. Exact
data on trafficking victims not available in Armenia www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=31493 The data on trafficking victims on
the territory of Armenia is not exact and should be corrected. According to
the data of non-governmental organizations, the number of detected crimes in
the area of human trafficking was 8 in 2007 and 4 in 2008 in Armenia. Eva Bede also noted, that 80 per
cent of trafficking victims are women.
«PanARMENIAN.Net» 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 www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2006/06/3F2E1592-E35A-4CC2-8405-DF1EF1C48734.ASP At one time this article had been
archived and may possibly still be accessible [here] 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: 6 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. PLEASE
RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT ARTICLES.
Cite this webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin,
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Human Trafficking in [Armenia Street Children in [Armenia] [other countries]Child Prostitution in [Armenia] [other countries]