La Strada Documentation Center

Armenia

Document number
1973
Date
2008
Title
Armenia
Author/publisher
The Protection Project
Availability
View/save PDF version of this document
Document type(s)
Research/Study/Analysis,
Keywords
Trafficking forms, Protection, Prevention, Prosecution
Summary

The sharp rise in poverty, cuts in social spending, and the removal of exit controls since the collapse of the Soviet Union have caused nearly 1 million  people to leave Armenia since 1991. Gender inequalities and the lack of work opportunities offering decent pay compel women to seek employment outside of Armenia, thereby making them vulnerable to traffickers’ false promises of legitimate work abroad. Armenian trafficking victims are recruited primarily through informal channels; that is, they get information on job opportunities abroad from friends or acquaintances. These recruiters are “the first chain in a well-organized international criminal group that works across the borders.” Corruption plays a role in the trafficking infrastructure as well. Corrupt local authorities are said to receive bribes for altering information in identity papers and documents. According to one imprisoned pimp in Armenia, her group bribed an official working at Yerevan Zvartnots airport to facilitate the departure of women and children to Dubai.

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