DECEMBER 2ND IS THE INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY
Gita Elibekyan
"Radiolur"
02.12.2008 16:28
Today is December 2nd, the International Day for the Abolition
of Slavery.
It recalls the date of the adoption, by the General Assembly, of
the United Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic
in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others on
December 2nd, 1949.
According to different estimations, about 27 million people in the
world are in slavery today. Trafficking is considered the white
slavery of the 20th and the 21st centuries.
People in Armenia first spoke about white slavery in 2002, when
it became clear from the report submitted to the US Congress that
Armenia was included in the third-rank countries, which meant that
the phenomenon existed in the country, but the government was not
struggling against it.
"Today Armenian citizens undergo sexual exploitation in Turkey and
the United Arab Emirates and do forced labor in Russia," said Marina
Solakhyan, Coordinator of the UN Anti-Trafficking Programme. According
to her, we have no exact numbers, since the victims of trafficking
are ashamed or afraid of talking about it.
According to Marina Solakhyan, 92 victims of trafficking received
assistance between 2003 and 2006. It’s worth mentioning that according
to the 2005 report, Armenia was included in the list of second-rank
countries, and this means that=2 0the Government is already taking
measures to fight trafficking and people become more aware of how to
avoid it.