PRESS RELEASE
March 23, 2004
American University of Armenia Corporation
300 Lakeside Drive, 4th Floor
Oakland, CA 94612
Telephone: (510) 987-9452
Fax: (510) 208-3576
Contact: Gohar Momjian
E-mail: [email protected]
AUA DEPT. OF LAW RAISES AWARENESS OF ARMENIA’S HUMAN TRAFFICKING
PROBLEM
Yerevan – On Saturday March 13, the American University of Armenia’s
(AUA) Law Department, and the AUA Shitak Student Law Club organized a
3-hour law conference on “Trafficking in Humans: A Growing Problem in
Armenia.” Trafficking is a largely unnoticed crime in which women,
and sometimes children and men, are purchased and sold like
merchandise. The event addressing this sensitive topic was attended by
over 170 people filling every seat and leaving many to stand in the
aisles.
`Human trafficking is a problem in Armenia, but the Government of
Armenia has now begun to take concrete steps to prevent it,’ said
Vivian Walker, Deputy Chief of Mission of the United States Embassy in
Yerevan. She noted that just this year, Armenia’s status was upgraded
from `tier three’ to `tier two’, which designates a country with
a trafficking problem but which is trying to comply with international
standards.
Other guest speakers included representatives of the International
Office of Migration (IOM), the Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the UN and several non-governmental
organizations.
`Trafficking in women and children is a growing problem in Armenia and
throughout the world. It is also a problem few people want to
acknowledge,’ noted Matthew Karanian, Associate Dean of AUA’s Law
Department. `Press coverage was extensive and as a result, through
this event our department helped raise public awareness of Armenia’s
trafficking problem.’
The Law Program of the American University of Armenia offers a
Master’s Degree in Law and in Comparative Legal Studies. The programs
feature a strong focus on business and international law, with special
emphasis on legal and institutional reforms in the former Soviet
republics.
****
The American University of Armenia is registered as a non-profit
educational organization in both Armenia and the United States and is
affiliated with the Regents of the University of California.
Receiving major support from AGBU, AUA offers instruction leading to
the Masters Degree in eight graduate programs. For more information
about AUA, visit
Picture 0115 – Matthew Karanian, Associate Dean of the AUA Law
Department, addresses the law conference “Human Trafficking: A Growing
Problem in Armenia.”
Picture 0123 – More than 170 people attended the law conference on
human trafficking at the American University of Armenia on March
13. The conference was sponsored by the AUA Law Department and the
university’s Student Law Club.