In Armenia, women and girls are trafficked more often, and sexual exploitation is more common

The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) released a new report on Armenia on 31 May addressing the issues of access to justice and effective remedies for victims of trafficking.

This is the third report on human trafficking in Armenia. The first was published on September 21, 2012, the second on March 20, 2017.

European experts note that since the last report, the Armenian authorities have continued to reform the legislation and anti-trafficking policy, a number of legislative changes have been made, for example in 2021 changes were made to the Criminal, Criminal Procedure and Labor Codes.

The National Action Plans for Combating Trafficking for 2016-2018 and then for 2020-2022 have been approved.

Who are the victims?

Armenia remains a country of origin of mainly trafficked persons, but it also has a problem with internal trafficking. Cases of exploitation of foreign citizens have been registered in Armenia.

The report refers to the data provided by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia, according to which 11 cases of exploitation were registered in 2017, 9 cases in 2018, 8 cases in 2019, and 9 cases in 2020. In 2021, a sharp increase in the number of victims of trafficking was registered, reaching 31.

According to the CoE report, 68 victims of trafficking were identified during 2017-2021. They are all citizens of Armenia, they were exploited in Armenia. 2/3 of the victims of trafficking are women and girls. They were first sexually exploited, then forced into labor, and then into forced begging.

35 of the identified victims are women, 19 are children, of which 13 are boys and 6 are girls, 14 are men.

The victims do not receive compensation from the criminals, and the number of convicts is small

GRETA emphasizes that the possibility of victims of trafficking receiving compensation from criminals in Armenia remains illusory. During the reporting period, no trafficking victims received compensation from criminals through either criminal or civil litigation.

Tips and suggestions – what to do?

Representatives of civil society and international organizations operating in Armenia told GRETA that the victims of trafficking were identified and identified not as a result of active actions by law enforcement, but on the basis of victim reports.

However, in many cases people do not even realize that they have become victims of crime and should turn to law enforcement agencies. Very often they do not apply to the police out of shame, stigma or distrust of the authorities. Therefore, it can be assumed that the number of victims of trafficking may be higher.

The group of experts stressed the need to focus on the fight against trafficking, noting that the epidemic has made victims of trafficking even more vulnerable, and called on the authorities to be more proactive in preventing and combating trafficking.

The authors of the report presented tips and suggestions on preventing trafficking cases, combating it, fair investigation of crime, identification of victims and not making them double victims.

GRETA considers that the Armenian authorities should intensify their efforts to prevent child trafficking and continue legislative reforms in that direction. It is mentioned that trained police officers and teachers should play a big role in that, especially in rural areas.

Full text in Armenian