GRETA’s report on Armenia and human trafficking victims

01-06-2022

Manon Picard

International Justice and Human Rights Researcher, 

Global Human Rights Defence.

The Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) has published on the 31st of May 2022 its Report on Armenia. The Report focused on the access to justice and the effective remedies available to human trafficking victims in Armenia. 

GRETA acknowledged Armenia’s development of its legislative and policy framework to action against trafficking in human beings. The Report found that these changes had led to the identification of 68 victims from 2017 to 2021, mainly women and girls, who were exploited for sexual or labour purposes mainly. In addition, the Report shows that despite the efforts made by the Armenian authorities, further measures need to be implemented in order to provide the necessary help to victims of human trafficking. For example, the authorities need to be trained to ensure that victims are systematically made aware of their rights, or that access to free legal aid should be “as soon as there are reasonable grounds for believing that a person is a victim of human trafficking”. As to the compensation received by human trafficking victims from their perpetrators, the GRETA Report describes the system as “totally illusive in Armenia”. The Report therefore recommended that the Armenian authorities take measures to guarantee effective access to compensation for human trafficking victims. 

Despite a few criminal investigations carried out by the Armenian authorities from 2017 to 2021, GRETA urges the Armenian authorities to allocate more resources in the investigative process. The Report states the following: 

“Between January 2017 and September 2021, a total of 69 criminal investigations were conducted into human trafficking cases but only 13 cases were brought to trial and just six persons were convicted for trafficking […] GRETA urges the Armenian authorities to allocate the necessary human resources to ensure that human trafficking offences for all forms of exploitation are proactively and promptly investigated, making use of special investigation techniques and financial investigations in order to gather evidence and not rely exclusively on testimony by victims or witnesses”. 

Since GRETA’s last evaluation report in 2017, the Group of Experts has acknowledged improvements in the protection of human trafficking victims in Armenia. Nonetheless, in order to provide for the necessary and legally entitled rights and protection to victims of human trafficking, further measures need to be implemented by the Armenia public authorities. 

Sources and further reading:

Council of Europe. (2022, May 31). Armenia: despite legislative reforms, survivors of human trafficking face uphill struggle to access justice. Newsroom – Council of Europe. Retrieved on June 1, 2022, from https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/armenia-despite-legislative-reforms-survivors-of-human-trafficking-face-uphill-struggle-to-access-justice

GRETA. (2022, May 31). Evaluation Report Armenia – Third Evaluation Round – Access to Justice and Effective Remedies for Victims of Trafficking in Human Beings. https://rm.coe.int/greta-third-evalution-report-on-armenia/1680a6b4ba