US embassy cable - 04YEREVAN562

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000562 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT. FOR EUR/CACEN, E. SIDEREAS; G/TIP, R. LERNER; 
INL/AAE, J. CAMPBELL; DOJ FOR OPDAT, C. LEHMANN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/03/2014 
TAGS: AM, KCRM, PHUM, PINR, SMIG, SNAR 
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS IN ARMENIA: THE VIEW FROM 
THE PROCURATOR'S OFFICE 
 
REF: YEREVAN 171 
 
Classified By: DCM WALKER FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
1.  (C) Through an Advisor to the Minister of Justice, we 
have obtained a copy of a report on trafficking in perons 
(TIP) in Armenia prepared by the Office of the Procurator 
General.  The detail and scope of the report's findings, 
along with recent Embassy demarches on Armenia's shaky Tier 
II status, should prompt the GOAM to take more decisive 
ownership of the TIP problem.  The report also reveals local 
law enforcement's surprisingly proactive and productive 
efforts in the fight against TIP.  Details of the report to 
the Minister of Justice follow. 
 
 
Trafficking in Persons from Armenia 
 
 
2.  (C) Law enforcement has identified the U.A.E. as the 
primary country of destination for Armenian victims of 
trafficking.  As a result, law enforcement has focused its 
efforts on trafficking rings working out of Dubai and has 
stepped up efforts in the cities of Yerevan, Vanadzor and 
Kapan as well as in Syunik Marz (region)-- the major points 
of origin for trafficked victims in Armenia. 
 
3.  (C) The report indicates that because securing visas for 
unmarried women under 30 for the U.A.E. is difficult, ring 
leaders often use stolen passports or false marriages to 
facilitate entry to the U.A.E.  Traffickers arrange travel 
for groups of women to the U.A.E. at their (traffickers') 
expense.  Upon arrival in Dubai, the women are expected to 
generate USD 6,000 to 10,000 to repay their debt; subsequent 
revenue is later to be split 50/50.  Once in Dubai, the 
women's passports are collected and their movements 
controlled.  Armenian Prosecutors believe that trafficking 
rings are creating pyramids, whereby initially recruited 
women begin recruiting for the ring in exchange for being 
relieved of the obligation to split proceeds 50/50 with the 
ringleaders.  The Armenian Prosecutor alleges that 
traffickers tell women returning to Armenia that they will 
likely be "shaken down" by airport officials and that their 
earnings will therefore be transferred to them in Armenia via 
Western Union.  Very often funds are never transferred. 
 
4. (C) Currently, there are two suspects in custody in 
Armenia who are believed to be involved in trafficking women 
to Dubai.  The Office of the Procurator General (OPG) has 
amassed extensive information on suspected victims, their 
aliases and false passport information; ringleaders have also 
been identified.  OPG has forwarded information about the 
traffickers to their counterparts in Dubai with a request 
that the suspected ringleaders be detained.  OPG is 
optimistic that the leader of this trafficking ring will be 
arrested and returned to Armenia; however, Dubai officials 
have not yet acted on this request. 
 
5. (C) The report further indicates that Dubai authorities 
have requested that Armenian law enforcement travel to Dubai 
to collaborate on the case.  The Interagency Commission to 
Address Issues Related to Human Trafficking indicated that 
plans to travel to Dubai were postponed because information 
regarding the trip was reportedly leaked; however, law 
enforcement officials are hopeful that they will be able to 
travel to Dubai soonest. 
 
6.  (C) Concern in Armenia over trafficking of Armenians to 
Turkey is increasing.  A local NGO that has been providing 
assistance to victims of trafficking in Armenia since 
December 2003 reports that it has assisted a man who was 
trafficked to Turkey via Georgia to be exploited for 
construction work in Istanbul.  The victim was able to return 
with the help of the Russian Consulate in Istanbul and 
reported to the NGO that he is aware of other victims still 
in Turkey.  Furthermore, an ongoing Armenian law enforcement 
investigation has uncovered a trafficking ring working in 
Turkey.  The Office of the Procurator 
General anticipates arrests in the very near future. 
 
 
Trafficking in Persons through Armenia 
 
 
7.  (C) Since 2002, Armenian law enforcement officials have 
been investigating at least one trafficking ring operating 
between Central Asia and the U.A.E. via the Caucasus.  Prior 
to the cancellation in March 2003 of the Tashkent-Yerevan 
flight, women reportedly were brought from Uzbekistan to 
Armenia and then sent on to Dubai.  Following the 
cancellation of the flight, the route has changed: Uzbek 
women are allegedly transported to Georgia, cross the land 
border into Armenia and then sent on to Dubai.  (NOTE: There 
is a direct Yerevan-Dubai flight operated by the local 
airline.  END NOTE.) 
 
8.  (C) OPG believes that trafficking rings operating out of 
Central Asia are comprised of Armenians with Uzbek 
citizenship and Armenians with Georgian citizenship.  The 
ring's activities are allegedly supported by extended family 
that provide transport, housing, etc. in return for 
compensation.  One prosecutor has indicated that the ring's 
activities may extend even farther-- at least one of the 
Uzbek victims has traveled to Southeast Asia, the U.A.E. and 
most recently Armenia.  The Prosecutor's office believes that 
the ring also maintains a travel business (name not 
disclosed) in Georgia, which organizes theft of Georgian 
passports for use by the women. 
 
9.  (C) Recently, 8 Uzbek women were freed from their 
traffickers by law enforcement and referred to a local NGO in 
Yerevan for safehaven and assistance (reftel).  Three alleged 
traffickers-- Armenians with Uzbek citizenship, are in 
custody and an investigation is ongoing.  Relatives of the 
traffickers believed to be still located in Uzbekistan 
recruited the 8 women separately; the women traveled to 
Yerevan on their own passports via Moscow.  OPG reports that 
the traffickers intended to send the women to Dubai after 
obtaining fraudulent travel documents in Armenia.  OPG 
believes that intense law enforcement efforts impeded the 
trafficker's ability to obtain false passports for the 8 
women and plans to travel to Dubai were cancelled.  The women 
and OPG reported that the traffickers set them up to work as 
elite prostitutes in high-end saunas and small hotels in 
Armenia and began, what turned out for the traffickers to be, 
a booming business in Yerevan. 
 
10.  (C) Comment:  The Advisor to the Minister of Justice, 
who has excellent contacts throughout the GOAM, has 
effectively raised concerns about Armenia's TIP record with 
the Foreign Minister, Justice Minister and Presidency. His 
discussions with the Office of the Procurator General 
indicate (and the report confirms) that at the law 
enforcement level, TIP is being taken very seriously.  In the 
months to come, we will be watching to see whether the higher 
levels of the GOAM are prepared to take full, public 
ownership of this problem. 
ORDWAY