ARMENIA: ANTI-TIP ACTION PLAN PRESENTED

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001387 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/CACEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL AM KTIP SUBJECT: ARMENIA: ANTI-TIP ACTION PLAN PRESENTED REF: STATE 139065 Sensitive but Unclassified. Please treat accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) On August 1, CDA delivered reftel points to Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian, underscoring the USG's judgment that Armenia has not shown increasing efforts to combat trafficking. We presented the proposed action plan, urging concrete steps forward, noting that the Department of State is required to present an interim report on Armenia's actions against trafficking. ¶2. (SBU) Kirakossian was joined in the meeting by Tigran Seiranian, MFA Director of the Consular Department, who had recently returned from a USG-funded trip to the United Arab Emirates, one of the primary destinations of women trafficked from Armenia. He said that while there was as yet no official agreement with the UAE on victim repatriation, a recent working visit to Dubai and Abu Dhabi had resulted in "some practical solutions." He reported that the MFA had successfully repatriated two Armenian trafficking victims from the UAE in May. Previous efforts at repatriation had been hampered by the victims' lack of legitimate travel documents. ¶3. (SBU) Seiranian called into question statistics cited in the USG's TIP report. He alleged that UAE data showed that there were only 87 Armenian victims of trafficking in 2003, and 84 in 2004. While we acknowledged that it is difficult to obtain statistics of trafficked women, the problem is serious and should not be dismissed in the absence of harder numbers of victims. ¶4. (SBU) Noting the GOAM's interest in working to improve its record on trafficking, Kirakossian appeared generally receptive to the reftel points, and the MFA will disseminate them at the next meeting of the intergovernmental anti-trafficking working group scheduled for mid-August. We stressed our eagerness to continue working with the GOAM to fight trafficking and told Kirakossian that our anti-trafficking assistance programs will be further focused to concentrate on the points in the action plan we presented. GODFREY