Armenia

Council of Europe Office in Yerevan

In a new report evaluating the progress made by Armenia since 2022 in countering trafficking in human beings, the Council of Europe expert body GRETA welcomes steps taken to improve victim identification and assistance. The report highlights, however, that the authorities should intensify efforts to prevent trafficking for labour exploitation, to ensure proactive investigations, as well as to provide legal assistance and compensation to victims.

A total of 90 persons were identified as victims of trafficking in 2022-25, including 22 children. There has been an increase in the number of identified victims and investigations into human trafficking offences as a result of reinforced training and new tools. Labour exploitation has become the predominant form of exploitation amongst identified victims There has been an increase in the number of foreign victims, including migrant workers.

Positive legislative changes observed in the reporting period included new provisions on trafficking in human beings in the new Criminal Code, a definition of “compulsory or forced labour” introduced in the revised Labour Code and the long-awaited legislative package on children rights protection. GRETA also welcomes measures taken to improve victim identification and the adoption of minimum standards for the provision of services to victims of human trafficking.

The report has a particular focus on the prevention of vulnerability to trafficking in human beings and the use of information and communication technology (ICT).

In Armenia, the most common vulnerability factors exploited by traffickers are poverty, poor housing conditions, unemployment, lack of education and isolation. Girls and women of the Yezidi minority are particularly vulnerable to child, early and forced marriage. Further, children and young people leaving alternative care, as well as persons with disabilities and/or mental disorders, are vulnerable to trafficking for different forms of exploitation. In recent years, the number of migrant workers in Armenia has significantly increased. Abusive practices by recruitment agencies and limited oversight of companies make migrant workers particularly vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation by their employers or recruiters.

The report stresses the need to increase the funding and human resources of the bodies responsible for the protection of children, so as to enable them to play an effective role in the prevention of child trafficking. Increased awareness-raising of trafficking risks among groups at risk and measures facilitating their inclusion, as well as training for professionals in contact with them, can strengthen prevention efforts.

GRETA calls on the Armenian authorities to increase the resources of the Health and Labour Inspection Body to enable it to conduct proactive and unannounced inspections in all workplaces. The authorities should also more effectively regulate and monitor recruitment and temporary work agencies and provide safe and anonymous reporting and complaint mechanisms for migrant workers.

GRETA welcomes the efforts made in Armenia to strengthen online safety and improve investigations of ICT-facilitated cases of human trafficking. The authorities should invest in capacity building and digital tools for proactive investigations of ICT-facilitated trafficking and develop co-operation with ICT companies and Internet service providers.

The report highlights some of GRETA’s previous recommendations that remain unimplemented or only partially implemented. In particular, victims’ access to compensation remains ineffective, with no victim compensated during the reporting period. Collection of evidence about the harm suffered (including moral damage and lost earnings) should be part of the criminal proceedings and a mechanism to guarantee the compensation of victims by the State should be introduced. GRETA also urges the authorities to ensure that legal assistance is provided as soon as there are reasonable grounds to believe that a person is a victim of human trafficking.

The report underlines that despite an increased number of investigations, there have been few convictions for human trafficking. GRETA calls on the Armenian authorities to ensure that human trafficking offences are investigated proactively and promptly, making full use of special investigation techniques. It also stresses that human trafficking offences should be prosecuted as such rather than as lesser offences and that such prosecutions should lead to effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions.

GRETA and Armenia