TIP RATING CATCHES KOCHARIAN'S ATTENTION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 000836

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, DRL, G/TIP

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016
TAGS: PGOV KTIP KWMN KCRM PHUM PREL SMIG AM
SUBJECT: TIP RATING CATCHES KOCHARIAN'S ATTENTION

REF: SECSTATE 99407

Classified By: Amb. John M. Evans for reasons 1.4 (b, d).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Armenia's second consecutive ranking on the
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Tier 2 Watchlist seems to have
touched a nerve in the highest levels of Armenian government.
During a June 20 meeting with the Ambassador, Deputy Foreign
Minister Arman Kirakossian confirmed news reports that
President Kocharian had summoned senior law enforcement
officials to discuss trafficking issues in recent days. The
Ambassador delivered the USG's TIP Action Plan for Armenia to
Kirakossian, who offered little defense of the GOAM's efforts
to combat trafficking. The deputy minister's lack of
complaint behind closed doors illustrates a larger phenomenon
whereby the government has criticized the TIP Report's
methodology in public, but indicated in private that it takes
the rating seriously. In the days following the June 6 TIP
Report release, the pro-government press, the procuracy and
the police department publicly dismissed it as inaccurate.
However, Anti-TIP Unit Senior Prosecutor Armen Boshnaghyan
told us privately that one of the problems identified in the
report -- the fact that the government conducted only a
cursory investigation into allegations of corruption by an
employee of the procuracy -- was accurate. End Summary.

--------------
KOCHARIAN CALLS IN THE BIG GUNS
--------------


2. (C) Armenia's second consecutive ranking on the
Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Tier 2 Watchlist appears to have
spurred President Kocharian to action on the issue. During a
June 20 meeting with the Ambassador, Kirakossian confirmed
news reports that the president had summoned senior law
enforcement officials to discuss trafficking issues in recent
days. Kirakossian said the meeting had taken place, and that
the justice minister, head of the National Security Service,
head of the state police and the prosecutor general were all
present (though no MFA representatives attended).

--------------
PRIVATELY, ARMENIA ADMITS IT COULD DO MORE
--------------


3. (C) Kocharian's action tracks with our observation that,
despite public bluster from law enforcement officials, the
GOAM appears to acknowledge privately that Armenia could do
more to fight trafficking. Ambassador Evans presented our
TIP Action Plan and demarche points to Kirakossian and Valery
Mkrtumyan, the head of Armenia's interagency Anti-TIP
Commission, June 20. Mkrtumyan said the government would
take our recommendations under consideration while
formulating the GOAM's new National Action Plan. He also
said the government plans to raise the level of participation
in the Anti-TIP Commission to the deputy ministerial level so
that the commission could function as a decision-making body,
rather than as a consultative group.


4. (C) After Ambassador Evans presented reftel points to
Kirakossian, the deputy foreign minister ventured that the
GOAM had in fact investigated allegations of complicity with
trafficking involving procuracy employee Aristakes Yeremyan.
Ambassador Evans said the USG was aware of the investigation,
which took less than two weeks, but said frankly that the
investigation appeared to be cursory and superficial.
Kirakossian had no rebuttal.


5. (C) Illustrating again the disparity between the GOAM's
public statements on TIP and its private statements, Anti-TIP
Unit Senior Prosecutor Boshnaghyan stated in an interview
with RFE/RL that Armenian law-enforcement authorities are
doing all they can to combat trafficking. In a private
conversation with us, however, Boshnaghyan (please protect)
raised questions about the quality of the investigation into
allegations against Yeremyan, and said that the members of
the interagency investigatory committee from outside the
procuracy played no role in the investigation. Boshnaghyan
also said that Yeremyan had an excellent relationship with
and the full support of Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan.

-------------- --------------
PUBLICLY, GOAM SEEMS UNCONCERNED ABOUT WATCHLIST STATUS
-------------- --------------


YEREVAN 00000836 002 OF 002



6. (C) In public, pro-government media and law enforcement
officials have dismissed the TIP Report as inaccurate.
Reports by pro-government newspapers in the days following
the June 6 release of the 2006 TIP Report were largely
critical of the report's methodology. The Hayots Ashkhar
newspaper reported June 8 that NGOs are one source of
information for the TIP Report, and questioned the
credibility of NGO sources, saying this would not be the
first time that NGOs have exaggerated facts. The same day,
Hayots Ashkhar quoted the procuracy spokesman as saying that
the report was inaccurate and that its sources were
unreliable.


7. (C) Law enforcement officials also publicly questioned the
validity of the TIP Report's allegations. Almost all
Armenian newspapers covered a June 15 press conference held
by the deputy head of the police department, Karen
Babakekhian, during which he presented statistics of criminal
cases related to trafficking and pimping. Haykakan Zhamanak,
a gossip-prone tabloid, reported that Babakekhian's press
conference was intended to refute the TIP Report. Foreign
Minister Vartan Oskanian said during a June 8 press
conference that Armenian authorities were taking serious
steps to solve the trafficking problem. He noted that
instances of trafficking appear to have increased despite
those serious steps, and did not offer a reason. (Note:
Though not presented in an explicitly defensive posture,
Oskanian's comments appeared to be intended to demonstrate
that Armenia was doing everything in its power to combat
trafficking. End Note.)

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


8. (C) The GOAM's continued practice of publicly questioning
the accuracy of the TIP Report is disappointing, but not
surprising. More surprising, but perhaps encouraging, is
that the report seems to have caught President Kocharian's
attention, motivating him to call a high-level meeting to
discuss the issue. It is clear to us that Armenia does not
want to be on the watchlist, especially considering
Azerbaijan's rise to Tier 2 during the past year. It is too
soon to tell whether this positive activity will actually
result in substantive improvement, but things appear to be
moving in the right direction.
EVANS