INEFFICIENT FIGHT AGAINST TRAFFICKING WILL WORSEN US-ARMENIA RELATIONS
Pan Armenian News
18.06.2005 02:54
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The US State Department 5th Annual Report on fighting
trafficking included Armenia in the second group of states in a special
list of control of struggle against trafficking, as the country did
not manage to provide enough proof of efficiency of fight against human
trafficking. It was stated by Ambassador John Miller, the Director of
the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in
Persons in the course of an interactive press conference organized at
the US Embassy in Yerevan. In his words, Armenia adopted a national
program of actions for fighting trafficking, however there is no
sufficient proof that the program is being implemented. Specifically,
there is no evidence that the law on trafficking was applied to those
guilty. Moreover, all sanctions were either conditional or much
milder than those provided for the crime. As noted by the report,
only 1 out of the 16 accused was sentenced in compliance with the
article 132 (anti-trafficking), the remaining 15 were indicted for
pimping, which provides for milder punishment. Mr. Miller said there
are reports that representatives of the Office of Public Prosecutor
of Armenia and frontier guards are involved in human trafficking. “We
hope the Government of Armenia will make every effort to prove the
contrary,” he said. As noted by Jennifer Strong Tamli, the person
responsible for the report on Armenia, there is no concrete evidence
that representatives of law-enforcement bodies are also involved. In
his turn J. Miller said, “I would be surprised if any of the persons
present here had not known about it.” In his words, another report (a
current one) will be published in 2006. However, he hoped that when
the final report is ready next June Armenia will move from the special
control list to the second group that includes countries with progress
in combating human trafficking. “Otherwise, the consequences will tell
on the US-Armenia relations,” Miller said. “The US is ready to work
with Armenia, where a serious problem of trafficking is available,
as it is a source country,” he said. In Miller’s words, the UAE and
Turkey are the basic destination countries of Armenian women and
children. “The phenomenon is present in any country irrespective
of the degree of development, however the US pays much attention
to trafficking, as slavery has left its trace in the US history,”
Miller emphasized.