RESULTS OF POST'S ANTI-TIP FULL-COURT PRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001667

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, G/TIP, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2016
TAGS: HSTC PHUM PGOV PREL KCRM KWMN SMIG AM
SUBJECT: RESULTS OF POST'S ANTI-TIP FULL-COURT PRESS

REF: A) YEREVAN 1597 B) YEREVAN 1548 C) YEREVAN 1524
D) YEREVAN 1101 E) YEREVAN 1091 F) YEREVAN
1565

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

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SUMMARY
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1. (C) A November 27 meeting with the Prosecutor General (PG)
suggests our series of "straight talk" interventions
with GOAM officials in late October and early November (ref
B) may be bearing fruit. The PG was more forthcoming than in
previous meetings, foreshadowing changes to the PG anti-TIP
unit he said we would appreciate. We also have
just been told that about 27,000 USD for the GOAM's TIP
National Plan of Action would be inserted into the draft
2007 budget. We are cautiously optimistic that senior
Armenian leaders are getting the message that we are
serious about improvement in Armenia's anti-TIP record. END
SUMMARY.

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PG FINALLY COMING AROUND
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2. (C) On November 8, CDA met one-on-one with FM Oskanian to
warn the GOAM that more action was needed on TIP to prevent a
successive negative report for Armenia. CDA was blunt about
our dissatisfaction with an investigation into allegations of
impropriety. Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepian called in
the Charge November 27 for a follow-up meeting, after the
Foreign Ministry intervened with Hovsepian to relay our
concerns. The November 27 meeting also followed our
interventions with key presidential advisers, and the visit
of U.S. OSCE Ambassador Julie Finley (reftels),in which we
had communicated serious reservations about GOAM progress
against trafficking. We had flagged the possibility that not
only was Armenia not on a path to graduate from the Tier 2
Watch List based on achievements to date, but that it might
even slip to Tier 3 status.


3. (C) The PG spent the first half of the 90-minute meeting
extolling Armenia's positive work to combat trafficking,
and comparing the country favorably to its neighbors. He
also made many halfhearted excuses about his office's
failure to conduct a thorough investigation into the spring
2006 allegations against one of the investigators who was
also implicated in the August allegations. CDA maintained
our position that we are concerned with the process -- a
thorough and objective investigation -- rather than the
result, and stayed tough on our points of contention (ref C).



4. (C) Having vented, the PG got down to business. He said
that a copy of the internal investigation commission's
final report was on its way to the Embassy. He said that,
while the report included the investigators' conclusions,
it did not include his own decision on how he would proceed.
He also said the internal commission's conclusion contained
"contradictory elements." (COMMENT: The PG was seemingly
preparing the ground to be more responsive to our concerns
than will be called for by the investigation report. END
COMMENT.)


5. (C) One of the PG's staff visited us November 28 to
deliver a copy of the conclusion, on which we will report
septel. She told us the details of what she called the
"restructuring" of the PG's anti-TIP Unit had not yet been
nailed down, but would be forthcoming.

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GOAM FINDS MONEY FOR NATIONAL PLAN OF ACTION
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6. (C) That same staffer called the CDA in the evening of
November 27 to inform him that the PG, the Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian, and National Assembly Speaker Tigran
Torosian had agreed that a line item on TIP would be
inserted into the budget. Anna Aghadjanian, a member of the
Interagency Anti-TIP Commission, told us November 29
that the cabinet had approved an amount of 10 million AMD
(about 27,000 USD),and that the proposal would be
forwarded to the parliament for further consideration.


7. (C) Though we had pushed an influential parliamentarian to
propose the budget change several weeks ago (ref B),sources
tell us the PG personally called the Prime Minister with the

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line item request following our meeting. The MP may have
been working on it all along, but the PG was able to get it
done within 24 hours.

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COMMENT
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8. (C) It is rewarding finally to see some movement on TIP
after months of pushing the GOAM on the subject. We don't
know what sort of "restructuring" of the anti-TIP Unit the PG
has in mind, but suspect it may dilute the
authority of investigator Aristakes Yeremyan, who now has
been the subject of two internal investigations. The
insertion of funding into the budget -- a very respectable
amount, in the local context -- is the most positive
development. The PG's involvement in the budget proposal is
also a very positive sign, particularly given the fact that
finding funding for anti-TIP programs is not in his office's
mandate. Taken together, these indications suggest that the
top echelons of Armenian government are finally taking notice
that they need to work harder against trafficking.
GODFREY