Armenian Prosecutor ‘Alarmed’ By Human Trafficking

07 June 2006

A senior prosecutor dealing with human trafficking admitted on Wednesday that
transport of Armenian women for sexual exploitation abroad has reached
“alarming” proportions but denied that Armenian law-enforcement authorities are
too lenient towards traffickers.

Armen Boshnaghian, a member of an anti-trafficking task force at the Armenian
Prosecutor-General’s Office, said prostitution rings operating in the country
are making “large-scale criminal revenues.”

In an annual
global report on the problem released on Monday, the
U.S. State Department
said Armenia remains a “major source and, to a lesser extent, a transit
and destination country for women and girls trafficked for sexual exploitation.”
The department placed Armenia on its human trafficking “watch list” for a second
consecutive year, saying that Yerevan’s stated crackdown on the practice has
made little progress.


www.hra.am/eng/?page=issue&id=15998