CRIME NOVELIST DELVES DEEP INTO ARMENIA’S ILLEGAL SEX-TRAFFICKING INDUSTRY
Lucine Kasbarian – WNN Features
Women News Network
Armenia crime author and investigator Vahan Zanoyan latest fictional
book “A Place Far Away” is based on factual research made covering the
illegal sex-trafficking industry in Armenia. Image: Charlotte Zanoyan
(WNN) Boston, Massachusetts, UNITED STATES, AMERICAS: Sexual slavery,
forced labor and the extraction of body organs: These are the most
common reasons for human trafficking, which represents an estimated
$32 billion per year in international trade. In 2008, the United
Nations estimated that nearly 2.5 million people from more than 125
different countries were being trafficked into some 135 countries
around the world.
According to the International Organization for Migration, sex
trafficking means coercing a migrant into a sexual act as a condition
of allowing or arranging the migration. Sex trafficking uses physical
or sexual coercion, deception, abuse of power and bondage incurred
through forced debt.
Trafficked women and children, for instance, are often promised work in
the domestic or service industry but, instead, are sometimes taken to
brothels where they are forced into prostitution, and their passports
and other identification papers are confiscated. They may be beaten
or locked up and promised their freedom only after earning – through
prostitution – their purchase price and their travel and visa costs.
Vulnerable populations in former Soviet states, such as Armenia, are
particularly susceptible to this global phenomenon. Since Armenia’s
independence, thousands of Armenian women and girls have been taken –
to Russia, Turkey, and some Arab states of the Persian Gulf – to be
initiated into prostitution.
A 2003-2004 investigation by Edik Baghdasaryan and Ara Manoogian,
journalists for the Armenian based news network HETQ and the Armenian
culture and society website ‘The Truth Must Be Told’, concluded that in
one year approximately 2,000 Armenian women were involved in the sex
trade in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman. Their findings
were documented in the film and book, “Desert Nights.”
Earlier this year, Armenian-American author Vahan Zanoyan released “A
Place Far Away,” a crime novel about sex trafficking in Armenia. While
the storyline reads like a sordid suspense saga, the situations are
largely based on actual events, the result of on-the-ground research
by the author.
In Zanoyan’s engrossing tale, the action shifts between the trafficked
Lara Galian and Swiss-Armenian investigative journalist Edik Laurian’s
attempts to uncover what happened to her and her relatives.
Sixteen year-old Lara lives with her family in the poor village of
Saralanj, located somewhere in Armenia. Unaware of her striking good
looks, Lara becomes the unsuspecting target of local crime boss, Sergei
Ayvazian, who wishes to exploit her beauty. After Lara’s skeptical
father Samvel rejects Ayvazian’s offer to manage a lucrative modeling
career for Lara, Samvel is found dead in a ravine. Grieving, sick and
penniless Lara’s mother reluctantly agrees to Ayvazian’s proposal,
and allows Lara to travel abroad.
Once in Ayvazian’s custody Lara is beaten, raped and discovers the true
nature of the work that awaits her. Shuttled from Moscow to Dubai Lara
is eventually sold in a one-year contract to a local sheik. While Lara
unwillingly goes along with her handlers she nevertheless tries to
maintain her sanity and plots an escape. At the same time journalist
Edik Laurian discovers and investigates Lara’s case in Armenia.
As the action in the book unfolds Edik, Lara, her family and a cast of
dubious characters struggle to dictate Lara’s destiny in the lead-up
to the thrilling finale.
The following interview by Armenian-American reporter and author
Lucine Kasbarian with author Vahan Zanoyan took place in Yerevan,
Armenia during the summer of 2013:
Lucine Kasbarian: How did you decide to write this book?
Vahan Zanoyan: I discovered the Armenian sex trafficking phenomenon by
accident. While on a business trip to Dubai, I ran into a beautiful
17 year-old Armenian girl. The girl was talking with another woman,
and I could tell the conversation was strained. It’s a long tale,
but it took six months to extract her story from her because the
girl was very scared. I compensated her for her time so that her
pimps would not get suspicious. Finally, she started to trust me and
tell me what happened to her. I spent close to two years researching
the issue. To be clear, Lara Galian is a composite sketch of four
Armenian girls I met in Dubai. All the names and locations in the
book have been changed to protect the innocent.
LK: What has the reaction been to “A Place Far Away?”
VZ: The book has received very favorable responses and reviews from
media and readers. I don’t seek to make a profit from this initiative.
My aim is to raise awareness, assist the victims and work on
prevention.
All proceeds from the book go to the UMCOR – United Methodist
Committee on Relief, a nonprofit organization that helps integrate and
rehabilitate freed victims of sex trafficking that has a significant
presence in Armenia and Orran, a charitable organization that provides
a safe haven to the most vulnerable in Armenian society – such as
homeless youth forced to live on the streets. They are the first to
be picked off by traffickers.
Orran does preventive work, while UMCOR has shelters where they help
rehabilitate rescued victims. Rescuing the victims can be especially
challenging work since some pimps stage fake rescue attempts to fool
the girls. The pimps then lock them up, beat them and thus deter them
from considering genuine rescue attempts in the future. But there are
not enough resources or money to do everything that needs to be done.
LK: In June, your book was translated into the Armenian language. Tell
us about that.
VZ: To help launch this new edition in Armenia, I appeared on perhaps
every major talk show on Armenian television. A reception was held at
U.S. Ambassador [John] Heffern’s home in Yerevan, which was attended
by around one hundred people, including journalists and organizations
engaged in the struggle against human trafficking.
Unfortunately, today’s Armenia is divided into the filthy rich who
don’t read, and the penniless class who love to read but can’t afford
to buy books. Thus, nowadays, Armenia does not boast a widespread
reading public as it once used to. That said, trafficking of Armenian
women is a hot topic in certain circles right now. My book costs 3,000
Dram [about $7.50 USD], which most native Armenians cannot afford. So
I’m not sure how well the book is selling in Armenia, even though it
did make it to the top of a bestseller list compiled by ArmenPress.
LK: What did you want to accomplish by writing this book?
VZ: I wanted to use gripping suspense to expose one of the most
significant issues of our time. I also wanted to help create awareness
about the criminal class in Armenia. If we sugarcoat that aspect of
life because of national pride we are doing our country and people a
great disservice. Aside from telling the main story I also wanted to
showcase the Armenian people, our history, our culture and our moral
courage. For example, I wrote about the beauty of Armenia’s landscape
as a way to remind people of our nation’s gifts, our undeniable assets
and to inspire the people who, more than ever, need a moral uplift.
Three trafficked Armenian teen girls are seen here following their
round-up during a September 2012 human trafficking sting in Dubai. The
man who tricked them into coming to the UAE was arrested during the
sting. Image: Nsrawy
LK: What message would you like to send to the young, poor or
disadvantaged women of Armenia?
VZ: Don’t fall for promises that sound too good to be true or appeal
to your vanity. When you face poverty there are other alternatives. A
16 year-old will trust her own circle of friends or relatives, many of
whom might sell her off. This could include former childhood classmates
who have fallen in with a bad crowd, brothers who have drug addictions
to feed, or uncles who have gambling debts to pay. They don’t think
twice about bartering a friend or relative to feed their habits.
LK: Do some of the girls escape and return home? Why do some stay
even after they have ‘paid their debts?’
VZ: For the vast majority of them escape seems impossible. For many
there are moral issues that can’t be overcome. How can a girl resume
a respectable life in Armenia if she has been dishonored through
prostitution? These thugs rule by fear. The traffickers, pimps and
madams are all Armenian. They pay off the police too.
LK: What do you say to those Armenians who don’t want to call attention
to this trend because of how shameful it is?
VZ: We can’t say amot eh [it’s shameful], get embarrassed, and stay
quiet. Our silence makes us participants in this crime. The best thing
for traffickers is this kind of radio silence on their activities. By
exposing them we help the victims. If I had the means I’d freely
distribute the book to every Armenian over 18, both inside and outside
Armenia. Speaking out could also make public officials more diligent.
After the “Desert Nights” documentary surfaced, Armenian authorities
began to take notice and action. Before this the officials would
consider the casualties to be complicit in the crimes rather than
victims of crime.
LK: What would you like to see happen regarding human trafficking?
VZ: There are many great organizations that fight against the symptoms
of trafficking. One is House of Hope. It provides teenage girls
from state-run orphanages with a safe home, a family environment and
psychological support, as well as life and job-training skills. While
such organizations do valuable work, they treat the symptoms affecting
these girls but not the root causes, which are the pathetic economic
and social conditions in Armenia.
Seventy years of Soviet rule, broken homes, fathers who have left
their families to work abroad and did not come back – all these have
contributed to the decay of our collective moral fiber. In 1915
Armenian women threw themselves into the Euphrates River to die
rather than be raped by Turks. Now underprivileged Armenian women
and families are turning to prostitution as a survival option.
Some improvements are happening and I’d like to see this continue. The
police in Armenia are more cooperative on this issue. We need more
people working with victims, prevention organizations, law enforcement
and victim rehabilitation and reintegration programs. There is a
new flow of victims every day so we must stop it at the source while
taking care of the existing victims. But as I said earlier, the root
cause is the horrible economic and social conditions in the country.
Unless that problem is addressed this phenomenon will only get worse.
LK: In writing this novel you also managed to incorporate personal
views and a Diasporan’s desire to be understood by native Armenians.
For example, the character of Edik writes verse as he marvels
at the Armenian landscape. One reviewer said the descriptions
were so compelling it could bolster tourism to Armenia. The same
Edik ruminates about Armenian ancestral moral codes saying, “The
ultimate human dignity was living within one’s means.” Your family’s
repatriation experience is represented too as the Galians were aghbars,
a pejorative term for “brother” that was and still is assigned to
some repatriates. Would you talk about this?
VZ: As you rightly say, the book is about more than the story of one
victim of trafficking. In a novel like this I felt obliged to also
describe the country both in its beauty, history and in the goodness
of the common man, as well as in its deep-rooted problems, such as
the rule of the ruthless oligarchs and the corruption and fear that
they spread. The dynamic between the local Armenians and the Diaspora
Armenians is part of the post-independence Armenian reality and could
not have been excluded from the narrative. The contrast between how
Diasporan Armenians generally react to situations toward which local
Armenians are largely indifferent has always intrigued me and I wanted
to incorporate that aspect in the novel.
LK: The character of Edik also talks about how in post-Soviet Armenia
authority figures could not be challenged without serious and often
fatal consequences. And how the “Western, activist approach has no
place in this psyche.” Please talk about this concept.
VZ: One of the foundations of communist philosophy and the Soviet
system that ruled Armenia was the alleged precedence of the public
and collective good over individual rights. Individualism, which was
the important driving force of Western civilizations and philosophy,
had no place on the Soviet system.
To this day I see this in Armenia when, for example, I was following
peoples’ attitude toward Raffi Hovanissian’s way of presidential
campaigning. Everyone knows the current leadership is bad, but no one
believes it can be changed. Can you imagine that attitude in the U.S.
or Western Europe? A handful of oligarchs, no matter how elaborate
their system of patronage and bureaucratic loyalty, would not be able
to rule a country when everyone knows and sees what they are doing.
And yet, they get away with it in Armenia because people have been
conditioned – under seventy years of Soviet rule – to accept authority,
not to challenge.
Only when that link in this vicious cycle is broken will Armenia
start the process of healing.
LK: In the narrative you present an act of retribution that comes
about after authorities do nothing to apprehend and punish criminals.
Do you think there is a place for vigilantism in today’s Armenia?
VZ: Vigilantism is a dangerous thing to advocate. And that is not what
I am advocating. It is dangerous simply because it can easily lead to
new gangs, gang wars and more destruction. So popular or widespread
vigilantism is not the answer. But there have been critical moments
in history when the situation gets so desperate that acts of ‘Divine
Retribution’ save the day. I think one celebrated case like that
goes a long way in shaking things up and waking dulled consciences,
not to mention giving people some hope.
LK: So what’s next?
VZ: I plan to return to Dubai to do additional research for a sequel
book and follow up on the whereabouts of the unfortunate girls I’d met.
LK: How can readers help?
VZ: They can help raise public awareness by circulating the [2005]
documentary film, “Desert Nights.” They can circulate this interview.
They can devise a way to send a copy of this book to every member
of the U.S. Congress. They can buy print or electronic copies of
“A Place Far Away” for colleagues, friends and decision makers.
LK: Why did you choose self-publishing?
VZ: I tried to go the established route but found it to be one of the
most exasperating experiences of my life. The prevailing practice
in the industry is to require authors to submit a one-page pitch
letter to agents for representation consideration. I resented trying
to encapsulate the thrust of what became “A Place Far Away” into a
one-page synopsis, but nevertheless approached a total of 22 agents –
all to no avail. Since I didn’t care about the perceived prestige that
comes with being affiliated with a traditional publisher I decided
to produce the book on my own to maintain editorial control.
I have no regrets.
____________________________________________________________ As
Armenia begins to accept the truth of human trafficking inside the
region four years ago, Eva Biaudet, OSCE’s Special Representative on
Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, gives a July 2009 interview to
the Armenian television program ‘Right to Speak’ about understanding
and fighting the evils of modern human slavery. Her discussion
includes an insider’s look into the work to stop sex-trafficking
and human trafficking in Armenia. Today the work by the OSCE, along
with its local and international partners, to stop sex-trafficking
in Armenia continues. Some experts outside the OSCE think that the
work to battle sex-trafficking can be many layered as corruption
and organized crime is thought to be a strong player in global
transnational human trafficking field. The interview has English
subtitles for the Armenian news anchors as Biaudet speaks in English.
This video clip is used with the kind permission of the Armenian
Second TV Channel.
_____________________________________________________________ For
more information on this topic:
“Analysing the Business Model of Trafficking in Human Beings to Better
Prevent the Crime,” OSCE – Organization for Security and Co-operation
in Europe with UN.GIFT – United Nations Global Initiatives to Fight
Human Trafficking, May 2010; “Proceedings of the Round Table on
Combating Trafficking in Human Beings,” Council of Europe with
the OSCE – Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe,
Interparliamentary Assembly of the CIS – Commonwealth of Independent
States with the CIS Executive Committee, April 2013; “Armenia 2011
Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor,” United States Department
of Labor – webpage; “2013 Trafficking in Persons Report – Armenia,”
U.S. Department of State, June 2013.
_________________________ Lucine Kasbarian is a New Jersey and
Massachusetts-based syndicated journalist, political cartoonist and
children’s book author. To know more about her work link here. Poet,
author and global energy expert Vahan Zanoyan shares his time between
California, U.S. and Armenia. To know more about his book link here
to the Facebook page.
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