Subject to trafficking in Dubai

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The majority of Armenian citizens have not been subject to trafficking in Turkey, but the United Arab Emirates where sexual abuse is common.

This is what Head of the Department of International Organizations at the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, head of the working group of the Council on Human Abuse in Armenia Dzyunik Aghajanyan said during a discussion on the "Issue of adoption and trafficking in Armenia".

"Currently, the number of victims of trafficking doesn't exceed 40-50 people a year. They are mainly victims of sexual abuse, as well as abuse at the workplace," said Aghajanyan.

The fight against trafficking began in Armenia in 2002. The main purpose of the program is to improve and develop mechanisms to fight against trafficking and support the victims, as well as expand the field of information. This year the program received government funding.

According to Aghajanyan, it is wrong to think that the Armenian victims are mostly from Turkey.

"There are more victims in the Emirates. We find victims through non-governmental, international organizations, churches and the U.S. Embassy in countries with which we have no diplomatic relations," said Dzyunik Aghajanyan.

Aghajanyan considered the improvement of the receiving country's economy as the main reason for expansion of trafficking and in this case Armenia is no exception. The first case of internal trafficking in Armenia was registered in 2008.

"Along with improvement of the economy, the country becomes a receiving country since it is able to consume the human potential inside the country. By saying internal trafficking we not only mean the abuse of the work force coming to the country, but the abuse of the workforce registered on the spot," said Dzyunik Aghajanyan.

Aghajanyan says there is much being done to identify the victims.

 

No children to adopt?

Head of Children's Affairs Department at the RA Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Yelena Hayrapetyan spoke about the order of adoption in Armenia. According to her, there are 70 children subject to adoption of which only 15 are healthy.

According to Hayrapetyan, the department gives preference to citizens of Armenia who express the wish to adopt and foreigners are mainly the ones adopting ill children. "Armenians avoid adopting ill children, while foreigners find out whether they can cure the children before adopting them," says Hayrapetyan.

Orphanages don't adopt children either because the parents of most of the children have not rejected them. There are nearly 400 couples that would like to adopt, but there are not that many children in Armenia. According to Hayrapetyan, the reason for that is the majority of the children are under the age of 10 and the couples want newborns.

Hayrapetyan assured that the department receives frequent reports on the Armenian children from foreigners before they become adults.