Student debates on the subject of human trafficking in Yerevan

Student debates on the subject of human trafficking in Yerevan

On the 29th of November final phase of republican championship of “Student debate” took place in Ani Plaza Hotel in Yerevan. Debates were held in the frame of “Civic engagement – student debates” program.
The final debate was around the “Men are more vulnerable in trafficking arena” thesis. The judges of debate were professionals and experts closely related in the field of anti-trafficking fight: president of “Association of Audio Visual Reporters” NGO Arzuman Harutyunyan, UN Coordination Department’s responsible Varya Meruzhanyan, Political Science candidate Hamazasp Danielyan, an economist and political scientist Astghik Mirzabekyan, “Synopsis Armenia” LTD representative David Xozhakyan and National Institute of education and training and further education department’s Head Melanya Davtyan. Teams reached to the final phase of championship were “Vanadzor” and “Yerevan One”.
Debate consisted from team’s constructive speeches, which were immediately followed by the questions and answer from the opposite sites, than each team presented their final thesis.
Disputing parties performed with the initially prepared speeches, there were presented their theses.
Projecting from a position “pro” “Vanadzor” team basically affirmed idea that trafficking does not know the sex, but only benefit.
“If you deeply study trends of trafficking you will see that as a physically stronger and hard-working sex men are more profitable, therefore men are more vulnerable. According to UN research men often are exposed in industrial centers, in the fields there is a need of a hard work. Of course, according to international statistics this investigation’s cases most part is cases of sex trafficking. But based on this information we can’t claim that women are more vulnerable than men. Mentioned statistic refer only to identified cases, as the numerous NGOs and international organizations talk about hidden trafficking, which is more common. Men often keep the fact of being trafficked in secret, thinking about their reputation and dignity”, – that’s how “Vanadzor” team began their speech.
Projecting from a position “cons” “Yerevan One” team said in their speech:
“Coming out with the “cons” position, yeas, we prove, that men are vulnerable to a certain extent, but in the same time we should insist that woman potential of being trafficked is higher. Let’s try to understand what means vulnerability: this is not an only physical weakness, but integrity of all factors that can be an instrument in the hands of trafficker to manipulate the victim.
Let’s try to understand why women are more vulnerable. To select a target group means to combine and to do your best to accomplish its control, profitability and relevance. It is noteworthy that these three factors best match in women’s case”.

After the speeches, the judges made their decisions according to interpretation of the subject, definition of terms, standards of debate and arguments use. As a result, the winning team was “Yerevan one” team by just one point of difference.

In their concluding speech the judges noted that preparedness of teams was quite high, and that the teams used the official data, right sources, and the ability to master public speaking was superior. However, according to the judges, teams lacked an important knowledge of Armenian local field, as during the whole debate any data about Armenia was never talked about.”
* “Civic engagement – student debates” program is realized by “Jinishian Memorial Foundation” and co-financed by Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Office in Yerevan.
** Follow the link to see debates’ all photos: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.991912717488798.1073741846.185532871460124&type=1