Children often subjected to labour trafficking, expert says
Considerable work has been done in the fight against trafficking in Armenia. Statistics show that the vast majority of trafficking cases represent labour exploitation, senior specialist at the Department on Family, Women's and Children's issues at the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs Eleanora Virabyan told a press conference on Friday.
“Apart from men and women, adults and children are also subject to trafficking and forced labour. In most cases, people are looking for a job and trust their relatives or neighbors suggesting attractive jobs abroad or at home. The other case is when children are subjected to forced labour by their parents,” Virabyan said, reminding of the acting hot line 114 at the ministry to report instances of labour exploitation.
The Head of the Police Anti-Trafficking Unit Vache Hovsepyan, present at the press conference, noted in 2017, 7 cases of trafficking were registered in the territory of Armenia out of which 4 were those of forced labour, while 3 - trafficking for sexual exploitation.
“All cases of labour trafficking were internal; cases that occurred against RA citizens within the borders of Armenia. Two cases of sexual exploitation were recorded abroad – in Turkey and the UAE. 12 victims of trafficking were revealed over the mentioned cases with five of them sexual and 7 – labour trafficking,” noted the speaker.