TWO CASES OF TRAFFICKING TO THE EMIRATES
Arpine Haroutinunyan works for Hetq, an internet-based investigative
magazine, the following story is based on interviews for the Team Reporting
Project
By Arpine Haroutiunyan
Hetq Online
“My friend Armenuhi deceived me” says Narine. “She promised me a
well-paid job in the United Arab Emirates. So I went. Once I got
there she took my passport and forced me into prostitution to make
money for her.”
Narine (her name has been changed at her request) is 34 years old
and she lives in Vanadzor – Armenia’s third largest city, in the
northeast, 120 kilometers from the capital, Yerevan. Officially,
Vanadzor is supposed to have a population of 120,000. But 30,000
or 40,000 people leave every year in search of work. Unofficially,
the population is considered much closer to 50,000. A disastrous
earthquake in1988 killed at least 800 people, left tens of thousands
without homes or jobs, and shattered the economy.
We met Narine in her one-room apartment where she lives with her two
sons on the outskirts of Vanadzor. When she returned from the Emirates
no one would take her in, so she was forced to rent the single room,
which has only one chair and a small table-the family usually sits
on a mattress on the floor.
There is no heat. For months they haven’t been able to pay for
electricity and it is often colder inside the apartment than
outside. Narine has to borrow money for bread.
Her husband was killed in Russia. Narine’s mother told us that he fled
Vanadzor after resorting to stealing. He never sent money from Russia,
and Narine’s relatives have been helping her to survive. She worked
as a clerk in a local store, but couldn’t support her family on what
she earned. So she took her friend Armenuhi’s advice and left for the
Emirates. She hoped that she would find a job in a store or cafe and
save some money. “Armenuhi and I had been friends since childhood,”
she explains. “I always trusted her and she was good to me. It never
occurred to me that that she could treat me like this.” Armenuhi
left Vanadzor for the Emirates in the spring of 2001, and then in
July invited Narine and a woman named Ofelia to join her. The women
didn’t know that their friend was involved in prostitution; Armenuhi
said she had been working as a seamstress. Narine left her boys with
a friend, R. B., and set off.
Armenuhi’s brother drove Narine to the airport, and Armenhui met
Narine when she landed in the Emirates. she immediately took her
passport. Then her attitude changed dramatically. “She told me that
I had to work as a prostitute or else I could stay there and rot,”
says Narine. “She said I had to give her $10,000 to get my passport
back. She found Ofelia a place in a cafe,” Narine says. Armenuhi
had been renting an apartment in a place called the Laundry Building
in Abu Dhabi . Narine worked there for nearly eight months, making
up to $200 an hour. She received six or seven men a day. She was
often treated cruelly, beaten, and forced to work even when she was
sick. As a rule, Armenuhi would take the money in advance, promising
to divide it up afterwards. Narine says she was not the only one in
this situation. There were many Armenian girls, some as young as 16
or 17. While in the Emirates, Narine periodically sent money to her
children – about $1,250 over the course of eight months. “I couldn’t
stay there anymore, I was like an object, like a slave. Sometimes the
Arab men would see me crying and spare me, they wouldn’t touch me,”
Narine recalls.
One day Narine noticed some stitches in her mattress; she ripped it
open and discovered her passport. She confronted Armenuhi and demanded
the money she had earned, but Armenuhi refused to pay her. In the end,
Narine was helped by an Arab man, who bought her a plane ticket and
sent her back to Armenia in April 2002. Narine was met at the Yerevan
airport by Armenuhi’s brother, who was accompanied by two friends,
one of whom was a police officer. A few days after she returned to
Vanadzor, the p;olice officer who had met her and another policeman
took her a detective with the Vanadzor police, who was nicknamed
Rambo. “Rambo asked me in an angry tone why hadn’t come to see him and
whether I knew that he was in charge of the girls returning from the
Emirates,” Narine explains. “Then he threatened me by saying that he
would deprive me of my parental rights if I didn’t write down what he
dictated, and he demanded $500. I wrote down everything that happened
to me in the Emirates.”
Narine told Armenhui’s brother about her declaration, and asked that
his sister pay her the money she was owed – $8,750. She took $200 from
him, on the condition that he would give her the rest later. Narine
says the brother signed a paper stating that the money was for
sexual exploitation. But then he consulted with Rambo about what
to do next. Rambo threatened Narine again and told her to leave the
brother alone, insisting that Armenuhi didn’t owe her anything. Narine
believes that Rambo was behind all of it. “Rambo told me that he was
in charge of this affair and I had to check everything with him. Rambo
was informed about everything-he knew that Armenuhi owed me money
and wanted to get something out of it, too,” she explains.
Narine informed both the Armenian police and the Foreign Ministry
of what had happened to her. On June 17, 2003, she received a letter
from the ministry stating, “In reference to your letter of June, 3,
2003 we would like to inform you that according to the information we
have received from the Police and Transport departments of the Lori
Marz, from 1990 to 2003, Vanadzor residents Vanadzor Armenuhi Simonyan
and her brother Artak Simonyan recruited and sent to the United Arab
Emirates for sexual exploitation a number of women, including residents
of Vanadzor. The Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia is now investigating
the case. Measures are being taken to locate Armenuhi Simonyan.”
Narine does not work now. She had a job at a bakery for a while,
but she left because the salary was too low, and her health was
poor-she has had serious kidney trouble since she returned from the
Emirates. Her children have not attended school for a year-an-a-half
– they don’t have textbooks, school supplies, or clothes. All her
relatives have abandoned them. “I understand that my daughter was
deceived. But I cannot forgive her anyway; she wouldn’t listen to us,
and she led an immoral life,” says Narine’s mother, Hasmik.
Narine has appealed to some international organizations, and they have
promised to help her defend her rights. “I will fight until Armenuhi
returns the money I earned-$8,750. She deals with big money and our
police officers profit from it,” she insists.
Charges have been filed in the case and the Office of the Prosecutor
General is in charge of the investigation. Armenuhi used to
visit Armenia a few times a year, but hasn’t done so since Narine
filed her complaint. Her contacts keep her informed her about the
investigation. Other woman from Vanadzor besides Narine fell victim to
Armenuhi Simonyan. They were afraid to meet with us. The mother of one
of them told us that her daughter was mentally disturbed and couldn’t
talk. Ofelia, who went to the Emirates with Narine, agreed to speak
with us. But in Vanadzor, we were met by her daughter instead. “Armen
Tamazyan, an investigator from the prosecutor’s office, told us that
you are not authorized to meet with us. My mother will not tell you
anything. The lawyers gave us the same advice,” she said.
The new Criminal Code of Armenia, which came into force on August 1,
2003, contains a provision on human trafficking: “Driving people to
prostitution or other forms of sexual exploitation, to forced labor
or services, to slavery or to a state equivalent to slavery or to a
subordinate condition, as well as recruiting, transporting, hiding
or receiving people in order to obtain their organs, is subject to
punishment in the form of a fine from 300 to 500 times the minimum
wage, or corrective labor for up to one year, or detention for up
to two months, or incarceration in prison from one to four years,”
reads Article 132 of the Criminal Code.
Rafik Giulnazaryan, senior assistant to the Prosecutor General,
says he helped Narine Karapetyan write her appeal. He advised her to
mention procuring and recruiting women. This was in 2001, under the
old Criminal Code, which had no provision on human trafficking, but
contained only one relevant article – #226- which defined punishment
for procuring and recruiting.
After Narine Karapetyan filed her complaint against Armenuhi Simonyan,
However, Giulnazaryan says, the investigation ascertained that Armenuhi
Simonyan was not a procurer but a go-between. Her main occupation was
prostitution. “Armenuhi Simonyan assists a number of procurers. When
she visits Armenia , she just happens to take some women back with
her to the Emirates. We know who the main procurers are. We are going
to bring them back to Armenia ,” Giulnazaryan says.
He also suggests that Narine Karapetyan, who went to the United Arab
Emirates with a group of other women from Vanadzor, probably knew in
advance where she was going and why. Among the women recruited by
Armenuhi Simonyan, only Narine has complained. She maintains that
Armenuhi had promised her a job at a factory, saying, “Armenuhi
deceived me, and she took the money I earned – $8,750. I want my
money back.” And Giulnazaryan explains: “The money Narine Karapetyan
earned must be returned not by Armenuhi but by their principal
procurer. Armenuhi paid the money she took from Narine to people who
were above her.”
Narine Karapetyan has also accused several law enforcement
officers. She insists that they too were involved in the affair. “I
consider that to be nonsense and provocation,” Giulnazaryan says. “We
have no evidence at all regarding these people. They are not involved
in this business.”
It is not clear yet how long this case will take,” Giulnazaryan
concludes.
“The lawyers say there won’t be much progress until the procurers
are brought back. And no one can say when that will happen. “We are
interested to see the case resolved in Narine’s favor. She lives in
really very hard conditions. But it is still obscure why she’s the
only one who lost out. The others don’t complain; some of them are
even very happy.”
“They catch the procurers, take money, and let them go” “My life
is ruined. There’s nothing I can do to change it. I’m lost, and I
don’t know how long I can live like this,” says 38-year-old Mary
Hovhannissian (the victims’ names have been changed).
Mary lives in Yerevan with her parents and brother. But her family
doesn’t know what she does for a living. She tries hard to make sure
that no one knows that she earns money through prostitution. “I’m
forced to do this since I can’t find any other job,” Mary tells
us quietly, as we talk in a cafe. In 1997 she met a man named
Seryozha. She was working as a waitress at the time, but her salary
was so low she couldn’t support her family.
“Seryozha told me that there were well-paid jobs in Greece and we could
make some money. He said we could buy a house when we came back-in
short, we could live safely,” Mary Hovhannissyan agreed. Seryozha took
her passport, ostensibly to buy tickets. At the airport on the day
they left, Seryozha said that first they would go to Dubai , then to
Greece . “Seryozha told me that we would get some money in Dubai and
then go on. But he tricked me and left me in Dubai ,” Mary explains.
A woman met them at the Dubai airport. Seryozha gave her Mary’s
passport and disappeared. Later Mary learned that Seryozha had brought
other women to the United Arab Emirates. She was told that she had
been “sold” and that she wouldn’t get her passport back until she paid
$6,000. “I was outside Armenia for the first time, and I didn’t know
what to do. I didn’t speak the language, I didn’t know the city, and I
had no money. I couldn’t even make a phone call,” Mary explains. She
was placed at the Rock Al Hadi hotel in Abu Dhabi. She earned $6,000
within a few months, but her passport was not returned. It was sold
for $3,000 to another Armenian woman. So Mary was required to earn
an additional $3,000 to free herself from the second procurer. After
paying off this sum, Mary was “sold” again. “So I was passed from hand
to hand and suffered like a slave. They beat me up if I refused or was
unable to work. They wouldn’t give me any medicine when I was sick. I
had no friends, I couldn’t trust anybody. Besides, the procurers
created such an atmosphere that girls would inform on each other,”
Mary recalls.
One of Mary’s procurers was called Marietta. She was the boss,
and other procurers in the Emirates – Anahit, Nano, Nelli, Zhanna –
worked for her.
The procurers were staying in a different hotel. Each of them had
from 10 to 15 girls, along with their passports.
Mary received fifteen or twenty men a day and was paid $13 for five
minutes.
She says that under-age girls were paid up to $200 for five
minutes. Their main clients were Arab men, who preferred Armenian
girls. According to Mary, there were a lot of Armenian women in Dubai ,
from fifteen to thirty years old. Mary made about $400 a day, of which
she was allowed to keep only $100-the rest went to the procurers. In
the course of six months in Dubai she made about $15,000.
In February 1997, Mary was arrested by the Dubai police. She was
imprisoned for three months. “The conditions in jail were horrible. I
kept getting sick. I could barely stand the life there. I almost
went crazy,” Mary recalls. In May 1997 she was deported from the
Emirates. She returned to Armenia exhausted and penniless. She didn’t
file any complaints-she was afraid that they wouldn’t believe her,
or would blame everything on her. She tried and failed to find work
as seamstress, her profession. So she went back to the life she fell
into in Dubai . Today she can be seen in the neighborhood of the
Ararat movie theater in Yerevan, working as a prostitute.
Mary blames law enforcement above all for the “sale” of herself
and other such women. “It’s their fault. They pretend to catch the
procurers, but they take money and let them go. That’s how they dealt
with the procurer who sold me, Marietta . They took the money and
set her free. As for Seryozha, he was never held responsible-he left
for Russia
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress