By Arpine Haroutiunyan
Hetq Online
www.hetq.am

“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 café 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 café,” 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.