DEMARCHE DELIVERED, ARMENIA ON TIP TIER 2

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000986

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KCRM KWMN PHUM PREL SMIG AM
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED, ARMENIA ON TIP TIER 2
WATCH LIST

REFS: A: STATE 97700 B: STATE 102469


1. (U) Sensitive but Unclassified. Please treat
accordingly.

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SUMMARY
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2. (SBU) On June 3, CDA delivered talking points per
reftel to Deputy Foreign Minister Armen Baibourtian
and Valery Mkrtumyan, head of Armenia's interagency
Anti-TIP Commission. CDA informed Baibourtian and
Mkrtumyan that Armenia has been downgraded from Tier
2 to Tier 2 Watch List because of its failure to
increase anti-trafficking efforts. Mkrtumyan said
the National Action Committee met recently and
conceded more progress needs to be made.
End Summary.


3. (SBU) On June 3, CDA delivered talking points per
reftel to GOAM Deputy Foreign Minister Armen
Baibourtian and Valery Mkrtumyan, Head of Armenia's
interagency Anti-Trafficking in Persons (TIP)
Commission. CDA stressed the importance the USG
places on trafficking reduction. He informed
Baibourtian and Mkrtumyan that Armenia has been
downgraded from Tier 2 to Tier 2 Watch List because
of the GOAM's failure to increase anti-trafficking
efforts. CDA urged the GOAM to do more to
disseminate and implement Armenia's National Action
Plan and expressed the USG's concern over reports of
GOAM officials who have been complicit in human
trafficking. He explained the downgrade means the
Embassy and Department will be required to publish
an interim report, and that the USG will be looking
for significant progress to avoid slippage into Tier

3.


4. (SBU) Mkrtumyan said the National Action
Committee had met recently and conceded more
progress needs to be made. Mkrtumyan asserted that
Armenia is no longer a transit country for
trafficking in persons. Mkrtumyan also said the
decision about whether to apply pimping charges or
the more stringent trafficking charges in
trafficking cases has been left to the discretion of
the judges, who consistently have applied the more
lenient statute. Baibourtian said several members
of the inter-agency committee, including the head of
the ministry's consular department, went to the
United Arab Emirates for a week to learn about the
women who had been trafficked there. (Note: The
trip was organized by IOM with funding from INL.
End note.)


5. (SBU) Mkrtumyan agreed the USG decision to
downgrade Armenia to the watch list could prompt
GOAM officials to increased action. CDA encouraged
the GOAM to use the tools at its disposal, such as
its sound National Action Plan, to increase anti-
trafficking efforts.


6. (SBU) As of June 6, news of the TIP report had
not yet made the Armenian press, but this should
soon change. On June 7, center-right print daily
AZG will publish U/S Dobriansky's op-ed (ref b).
EVANS