Human trafficking in Armenia
Encyclopedia
Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

 is a source country for women subjected to trafficking in persons
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...

, specifically forced prostitution
Forced prostitution
Forced prostitution, also known as involuntary prostitution, is the act of performing sexual activity in exchange for money on a non-voluntary basis. There are a wide range of entry routes into prostitution, ranging from "voluntary and deliberate" entry, "semi-voluntary" based on pressure of...

; a source and destination country for women in forced labor; and a source country for men in forced labor
Unfree labour
Unfree labour includes all forms of slavery as well as all other related institutions .-Payment for unfree labour:If payment occurs, it may be in one or more of the following forms:...

. Women from Armenia are subjected to sex trafficking in the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...

 and Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

.

Armenian men and women are subjected to forced labor in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 while Armenian women are subjected to forced labor in Turkey. Armenian boys are subjected to conditions of forced labor
Child labor
Child labour refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries...

 and Armenian women and girls are subjected to forced prostitution within the country. Women from Russia are subjected to conditions of forced labor in Armenia.

In January 2010, the Armenian government enacted legislation
National Assembly of Armenia
The Azgayin Zhoghov of Armenia is the official name of the legislative branch of the government of Armenia.-History:Until the promulgation of the Hatt-i Sharif of 1839, the patriarch and his clients, within limits, possessed authority over Armenian people in the Ottoman Empire...

 that increased the minimum penalty for convicted trafficking offenders to five years’ imprisonment, allowed for the confiscation of asset
Asset
In financial accounting, assets are economic resources. Anything tangible or intangible that is capable of being owned or controlled to produce value and that is held to have positive economic value is considered an asset...

s from convicted trafficking offenders, and exempted trafficking victims from criminal prosecution for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked. While the government did not provide funding for victim assistance in 2009, in March 2010 it allocated approximately $15,000 to an NGO-run shelter for facility rent. The government continued to implement its national trafficking victim referral mechanism and nearly doubled the number of victims it identified compared with the previous year. The government demonstrated modest progress in combating government officials’ complicity in trafficking.

Prosecution

The Armenian government has increased its overall law enforcement efforts against human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...

; however, it has not demonstrated efforts to prosecute cases linked to previous allegations of government officials’ complicity. Armenia prohibits trafficking in persons for both forced labor and commercial sexual exploitation through Articles 132 and 132-1 of its penal code
Criminal Code
A criminal code is a document which compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law...

 which, as amended in January 2010, prescribe penalties of at least five years’ imprisonment and up to 15 years’ imprisonment – penalties that are commensurate with those prescribed for other serious crimes, such as rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...

.

The government investigated 15 cases of trafficking – including nine sex trafficking and six labor trafficking investigations – compared with 13 investigations in 2008. Armenian courts prosecuted 19 individuals in 12 trafficking cases during the reporting period, compared with eight individuals prosecuted in 2008. Authorities convicted 11 trafficking offenders in 2009 – including eight individuals for sex trafficking and three for labor trafficking – up from four convictions in 2008. All 11 convicted offenders in 2009 were given prison sentences; no traffickers received suspended sentence
Suspended sentence
A suspended sentence is a legal term for a judge's delaying of a defendant's serving of a sentence after they have been found guilty, in order to allow the defendant to perform a period of probation...

s. Four offenders were given sentences ranging from three to five years’ and seven offenders were given sentences ranging from seven to 13 years’ imprisonment. As a result of the government’s anti-trafficking partnerships with outside parties, approximately 447 government officials received training from anti-trafficking NGOs, international organizations, foreign governments, and the Armenian government on a range of anti-trafficking issues including the application of Armenia’s anti-trafficking law and the national victim referral mechanism, investigation techniques, and forced labor. Although there were no new reports of government officials’ complicity in trafficking over the last year, the government demonstrated only modest progress in the reopened investigation of a well-documented 2006 corruption
Corruption in Armenia
Political corruption in Armenia is a widespread and growing problem in Armenian society. The United Nations Development Programme in Armenia views corruption in Armenia as "a serious challenge to its development."- Corruption levels :...

 case. The separate trial of a former deputy principal of a state-run special needs
Special needs
In the USA, special needs is a term used in clinical diagnostic and functional development to describe individuals who require assistance for disabilities that may be medical, mental, or psychological. For instance, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and the International...

 school who was accused of forcing two students to beg in 2008 remained in progress at the conclusion of this reporting period.

Protection

The Government of Armenia has demonstrated mixed efforts to identify and provide protection to victims of trafficking. The government did not spend the funding that it had allocated for victim assistance in 2009, but in March 2010, it signed an agreement with a local NGO
Non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization is a legally constituted organization created by natural or legal persons that operates independently from any government. The term originated from the United Nations , and is normally used to refer to organizations that do not form part of the government and are...

 to provide funding for facility rent for one trafficking shelter from February through December 2010.

In September 2009, the government issued a decree that ensures victims are provided access to free state-provided medical services; two victims received such medical assistance during the reporting period. The government continued to implement its national victim referral mechanism. In March 2010, the government enacted changes to the national referral mechanism, increasing government-funded assistance and shelter for trafficking victims from seven to 30 days after their initial identification; additional assistance was contingent upon their cooperation with law enforcement investigations.

NGOs expressed concern that the national referral mechanism was disproportionately focused on prosecuting trafficking offenders rather than assisting victims. The government significantly increased the number of identified victims during the reporting period: law enforcement officials identified 60 victims in 2009 and referred 22 of them to NGOs for assistance, compared with 34 victims identified and 20 referred for assistance in 2008. Foreign-funded NGOs assisted 26 victims in 2009, compared with 24 victims in 2008. Victims were encouraged to cooperate with law enforcement bodies; in 2009, all 60 victims assisted police with trafficking investigations.

NGOs also reported improved sensitivity for victims’ rights among judges and prosecutors. Foreign trafficking victims identified within Armenia were permitted to stay in the country and work in the local economy. In November 2009, the government enacted a legislative amendment
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...

 that exempts trafficking victims from criminal prosecution for any unlawful acts they may have committed as a direct result of being trafficked; there were no reports of victims being penalized for such acts during the reporting period. The lack of appropriate victim-witness protection continued to be an issue of concern; this may have hampered Armenia’s prosecution efforts.

Prevention

The Armenian government has undertaken anti-human trafficking prevention efforts, particularly through awareness raising during the reporting period. In 2009, the government’s Migration Agency allocated about $8,000 for the publication and distribution of 100,000 brochures and leaflets describing legal procedures for Armenians seeking to work abroad. These materials were distributed to migrant
Migrant
Migrant may refer to:*Immigration and emigration, the migration of humans*Bird migration*Migrant worker*Migrant literature...

 travelers at the airport in Yerevan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...

 and also at employment centers and social resource centers.

The government also provided approximately $20,000 for an awareness campaign targeted at adolescents titled “Campaigns Among Youth to Increase Awareness on the Threat of Trafficking.” The campaign included a digital video conference discussion of the dangers of trafficking that aired on Armenian public television. The campaign also included additional regional workshops to train youth leaders about the dangers of trafficking – this information was then disseminated to their peers. Border officials did not specifically monitor emigration
Emigration
Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...

and immigration patterns for evidence of trafficking, and the government made no discernible efforts to reduce demand for commercial sex acts.
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