July 30th – World Day against Trafficking in Humans
“UN General Assembly resolution has declared July 30th as the World Day against Trafficking in Humans” – announced head of International Organizations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of anti-trafficking working group Vahram Kazhoyan at the press conference today.
The initiative is aimed at raising public awareness of the issue by emphasizing the disastrous condition of millions of women, children and men who have become victims of this crime, as well by undertaking measures to encourage the fight against the crime.
“There is a well-developed institutional system in Armenia: the anti-trafficking governmental council is in place chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan, adjacent to the Council there is also the working group headed by myself, and the group carries out all the works that is entitled to according to the national action plan” said V. Kazhoyan, noting the great contribution of Armenia in the anti-trafficking activities.
According to V. Kazhoyan’s words, Armenia, in the field of combating trafficking, has a great number of international obligations according to number of signed and ratified documents and agreements- documents signed with UN, conventions of International Organization for Migration, conventions of International Labour Organisation, as well as undertaken commitments in the framework of Council of Europe, OSCE.
Today Armenia successfully partners with various countries. In this context the head of the working group emphasized the importance of Armenia’s cooperation with USA. “As you know the United States of America publishes an annual report on the situation of trafficking in different countries, according to it, Armenia for the 2nd time has been included this year among the first group of countries, which best carry out activities against trafficking ” said V. Kazhoyan.
According to his words, in the list of more than 190 countries, only 31 were ranked among the first group. As for Armenia, it is the only country in the region, which is included in the first group and meets the standards of the State Department in anti-trafficking field.
Head of the working group also emphasized that inter-cooperation within the country is very important in the fight against trafficking, including media and non-governmental organizations, as trafficking is not a problem of one human being, one working group or one council. Participation of all society members is essential in the fight against trafficking.
V. Kazhoyan also added that “blue heart” was chosen as a symbol of the fight against trafficking.
In his speech Robert Grigoryan, head of anti-trafficking division of RA Police Department, mentioned that according to the analysis Armenia is considered as a country of origin. However in recent years there have also been cases of internal trafficking and the use of Armenia as a transit country.
By Mr. R. Grigoryan’s opinion in 2012-2014 31 criminal cases characterized as trafficking were filed based on which 39 victims were identified out of which 28 women and 14 were juveniles at the time of the offense.
According to the words of R.Grigoryan from 2012 till the first half of 2014 31 criminal cases were filed in Armenia with trafficking characteristics, 39 persons were identified as victims, 28-women, 14- were juveniles at the time of the alleged crime.
“29 ppeople were charged in mentioned criminal cases: 12 cases referred to exploitation of prostitution of women in Armenia, 5 in labor exploitation (for involvement in begging ), 4 referred to the exploitation of prostitution of women (R.A. citizens ) in the United Arab Emirates. 4 referred to the exploitation of women in Turkey, 3 referred to labor exploitation in RF and 2 cases referred to the sale of organs “ listed the speaker.
R.Grigoryan also mentioned about the increase of disclosure of trafficking-related cases, which he connected with better awareness of people.
The police representative also cited another important factor, in Armenia people are not recruited by strength and transferred to the border, are not kidnapped. Violence mainly begins at the time of exploitation.
Arzuman Harutyunyan director of “Association of Audio Visual reporters” NGO conducted his speech afterwards and mentioned that two years in the first group for Armenia is not accidental.
“That means that immense serious work has been implemented to raise public awareness” emphasized A. Harutyunyan.
A.Harutyunyan also told about “Development of anti-trafficking information platform in Armenia” project, in the framework of which www.antitrafficking.am website was created in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy, intended for information of journalists and raising public awareness. Trafficking related materials in Armenia and in the world may be found on the website.
While speaking about media coverage and trafficking dissemination, Mr. Harutyunyan mentioned the uniqueness of the subject, because of which journalists should be even more sensitive and responsible always adhering to journalistic ethics rules.
A.Harutyunyan highlighted that while covering trafficking, one of the common mistakes of the journalist is the misuse of the term “trafficking”. Besides, the journalist very often reveals personal details of the victim in his material: name, surname, place of residence, which may lead to irreparable consequences, and once more distorting the fate of the victim.
In his turn, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative for the Republic of Armenia Bradley Busetto mentioned that Armenia shows significant progress in the last decade.
“It’s just a disaster that despite all our efforts trafficking still exists in the world, however, I should mention that Armenia demonstrates positive outputs in this field. The government of RA, especially in the last three years, has demonstrated considerable efforts in the fight against human trafficking” said B. Busetto.
By his words, the actions are carried out mainly in three directions: in the fields of legislation and agreements with other countries, in the direction of implementation of existing laws, as well as in the education sector, providing assistance to schools and thereby raising awareness about trafficking.
“Evaluation of Armenian reforms has been provided by the U.S. State Department’s annual report, in which all countries are divided into three groups, starting from the 3rd group of countries, which have still a lot of work to do in the field of combat against trafficking, ending with the first group, in which Armenia has been included.
This is a great progress for Armenia, but we should remain vigilant, taking into account the migration and the economic situation of the country. It is very important that Armenia attaches so much importance to the issue of trafficking” concluded B. Busetto.
The media coverage of the press conference by other media may be reviewed by the following reference links:
http://newsarmenia.ru/society/20140730/43085386.html
http://news.am/arm/news/221601.html
http://168.am/2014/07/30/392159.html
http://www.panorama.am/am/society/2014/07/30/trafiking-armenia/
http://henaran.am/news_view.php?post_id=45817
http://www.aravot.am/2014/07/30/484287/
http://www.1in.am/1386340.html
http://www.azatutyun.am/content/article/25475561.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpiCS6PyD9I&list=UU4pOSYGkPWLmfOpdRVewc-w
http://www.shanttv.com/ru/news/political/2014_07_30/15305/
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