US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN986

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000986 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, G/TIP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, KCRM, KWMN, PHUM, PREL, SMIG, AM 
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED, ARMENIA ON TIP TIER 2 
WATCH LIST 
 
REFS:  A: STATE 97700  B: STATE 102469 
 
1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified.  Please treat 
accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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2. (SBU) On June 3, CDA delivered talking points per 
reftel to Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Baibourtian 
and Valery Mkrtumyan, head of Armenia's interagency 
Anti-TIP Commission.  CDA informed Baibourtian and 
Mkrtumyan that Armenia has been downgraded from Tier 
2 to Tier 2 Watch List because of its failure to 
increase anti-trafficking efforts.  Mkrtumyan said 
the National Action Committee met recently and 
conceded more progress needs to be made. 
End Summary. 
 
3. (SBU) On June 3, CDA delivered talking points per 
reftel to GOAM Deputy Foreign Minister Armen 
Baibourtian and Valery Mkrtumyan, Head of Armenia's 
interagency Anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP) 
Commission.  CDA stressed the importance the USG 
places on trafficking reduction. He informed 
Baibourtian and Mkrtumyan that Armenia has been 
downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List because 
of the GOAM's failure to increase anti-trafficking 
efforts.  CDA urged the GOAM to do more to 
disseminate and implement Armenia's National Action 
Plan and expressed the USG's concern over reports of 
GOAM officials who have been complicit in human 
trafficking.  He explained the downgrade means the 
Embassy and Department will be required to publish 
an interim report, and that the USG will be looking 
for significant progress to avoid slippage into Tier 
3. 
 
4. (SBU) Mkrtumyan said the National Action 
Committee had met recently and conceded more 
progress needs to be made.  Mkrtumyan asserted that 
Armenia is no longer a transit country for 
trafficking in persons.  Mkrtumyan also said the 
decision about whether to apply pimping charges or 
the more stringent trafficking charges in 
trafficking cases has been left to the discretion of 
the judges, who consistently have applied the more 
lenient statute.  Baibourtian said several members 
of the inter-agency committee, including the head of 
the ministry's consular department, went to the 
United Arab Emirates for a week to learn about the 
women who had been trafficked there.  (Note: The 
trip was organized by IOM with funding from INL. 
End note.) 
 
5. (SBU) Mkrtumyan agreed the USG decision to 
downgrade Armenia to the watch list could prompt 
GOAM officials to increased action.  CDA encouraged 
the GOAM to use the tools at its disposal, such as 
its sound National Action Plan, to increase anti- 
trafficking efforts. 
 
6. (SBU) As of June 6, news of the TIP report had 
not yet made the Armenian press, but this should 
soon change.  On June 7, center-right print daily 
AZG will publish U/S Dobriansky's op-ed (ref b). 
EVANS