U.S. State Dept: Armenia doesn’t fully meet trafficking elimination standards

PanARMENIAN.Net - On June 27, the U.S. State Department issued 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report to assess efforts by 184 governments worldwide to fight sexual exploitation, forced labor and modern-day slavery.

The department’s report characterized Armenia as a source country for women and girls subjected to sex trafficking, as well as a source and destination country for women subjected to forced labor, and a source country for men subjected to forced labor.

“Women and girls from Armenia are subjected to sex trafficking in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. Armenian men and women are subjected to forced labor in Russia, while Armenian women are subjected to forced labor in Turkey. Armenian boys are subjected to forced labor and Armenian women and girls are found in sex trafficking within the country. Women from Russia are subjected to forced labor in Armenia,” the report said.

As the department noted, the Government of Armenia does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. In 2010, the government provided partial funding for an NGO-run shelter for victims of trafficking and pursued partnerships with NGOs to provide training to hundreds of officials. The government continued to ensure that all convicted traffickers were appropriately sentenced and that those sentences were enforced. In March 2011, the government enacted amendments to the Criminal Code that further strengthened its anti-trafficking statutes. However, of particular concern was a precipitous drop in the number of victims identified during the year, as well as the absence of investigations of forced labor offenses.