VZCZCXRO7629
RR RUEHDBU
DE RUEHYE #1548/01 3061404
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 021404Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 4322
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 1143

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001548 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, G/TIP AND EUR/CARC 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KTIP KWMN KCRM HSTC AM
SUBJECT: POST'S ANTI-TIP FULL-COURT PRESS 
 
REF: YEREVAN 1524 
 
Classified By: CDA A. F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (C) Post delivered a major push on trafficking in persons 
this week, meeting a number of senior government officials to 
discuss the GOAM's anti-trafficking efforts.  In each 
meeting, we delivered a strong message: Armenia risks another 
year on the Tier 2 Watch List, or worse, if the GOAM doesn't 
address our concerns about investigatorial misconduct, the 
unfunded and behind-schedule draft National Action Plan, and 
the low working level of the interagency Anti-Trafficking 
Commission.  END SUMMARY. 
 
--------------------------------------------- - 
CDA PUSHES DEPUTY FOREIGN MINISTER HARD ON TIP 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2. (C) During a meeting with Deputy Foreign Minister Arman 
Kirakossian October 30, Charge D'Affaires (CDA) presented our 
concerns about the Prosecutor General's (PG) latest 
cursory investigation into charges of misconduct by two of 
his anti-trafficking investigators (reftel).  He also pushed 
Kirakossian and MFA International Organizations Department 
Head Valery Mkrtumian, who also leads the GOAM's interagency 
Anti-TIP Commission, on the fact that Armenia only recently 
had begun to draft a new National Action Plan for which no 
funds had been earmarked in Armenia's 2007 budget.  CDA said 
we were concerned about the effect of these issues on 
Armenia's TIP ranking, but that he felt the GOAM could 
prevent an unfavorable ranking in 2007.  Specifically, he 
suggested conducting a more serious internal investigation at 
the PG's Office and allocating funds for the National Action 
Plan.  Both the deputy foreign minister and Mkrtumian were 
noticeably distressed at the idea that Armenia would remain 
on the Tier 2 Watch List, or worse.  Mkrtumian, who is very 
invested in Armenia's anti-trafficking fight, but 
unfortunately is not senior enough to have meaningful 
influence within the government, pleaded with the CDA several 
times during the meeting that downgrading Armenia to Tier 3 
would be "a very bad signal," given Armenia's progress in 
regional anti-TIP cooperation, particularly with Turkey. 
 
¶3. (C) Mkrtumian told us the government could not set aside 
money for the National Action Plan before the plan were 
approved.  He said the Anti-TIP Commission might request 
funds for it in 2007, but admitted that would leave the plan 
without government funding for a year.  He said the National 
Action Plan would be dependent on external funding 
from international organizations, and mentioned a UNDP 
program in particular.  CDA countered that the GOAM must put 
its money where its mouth is in order to demonstrate 
true commitment to the fight against human trafficking. 
(NOTE: During a November 2 meeting with Poloff, UNDP staff 
said they had made no commitment to fund the National Action 
Plan.  END NOTE.) 
 
----------------------------------- 
POST SENDS MESSAGE TO THE PRESIDENT 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) CDA and Pol/Econ chief also raised TIP at a private 
lunch October 30 with presidential staff adviser Vigen 
Sargsian, making the same points as with Kirakossian. 
Sargsian appreciated the heads-up about Armenia's precarious 
position, and promised to relay the message to the president. 
 He suggested that, despite having missed the government's 
budget request to parliament, it may not be too late to get 
2007 funding appropriated for the action plan.  He said that 
it would require getting in touch with parliamentarians who 
could add the appropriation to the budget -- which we did 
(see para 6).  Sargsian also asked about who had been 
responsible for developing the National Action Plan and 
requesting funding. 
 
¶5. (C) Pol/Econ chief had lunch with presidential national 
security adviser Garnik Isaghulian October 31, primarily to 
highlight our TIP concerns.  Isaghulian also promised to see 
that President Kocharian got the message.  Isaghulian 
especially took our point that the interagency Anti-TIP 
Commission chaired by MFA department head Mkrtumian and 
attended by mid-level civil servants lacked the political 
heft to drive GOAM policy changes.  Commission members lack 
the authority even to commit their own agencies to take 
concrete action. 
 
 
YEREVAN 00001548  002 OF 002 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
CDA PUSHES MP TO FIND MONEY FOR ANTI-TIP EFFORTS 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶6. (C) CDA met November 1 with MP Hranush Hakobian, a member 
of the ruling Republican Party's caucus, to ask that she 
propose funding for the National Action Plan that would be 
contingent upon the government's approval of the plan. 
Hakobian agreed to discuss the issue with Prime Minister 
Markarian, and recounted her success in previous years in 
inserting funding for gender-equality issues into the budget. 
 She suggested she might be able to convince the PM to find 
10 million AMD (about 26,000 USD) for the National Action 
Plan, but would have to find the equivalent amount from 
another budget line item. 
 
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COMMENT 
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¶7. (C) As we told our interlocutors, Armenia has made some 
tangible and encouraging progress on human trafficking, 
including the training of prosecutors and judges, and the 
development of procedures for victim identification.  We 
pushed hard on the areas in which there has been insufficient 
progress, using the TIP Tier rankings as both carrot and 
stick, in hopes of spurring the GOAM to action.  We are 
optimistic that MP Hakobian will find funding for the 
National Action Plan, and have had strong signals that the 
GOAM plans to elevate its anti-TIP interagency commission to 
a more senior level.  We are less certain that the PG's 
Office will conduct a real probe into the allegations of 
misconduct by its investigators.  We believe that the 
powerful PG would be swayed only by a direct order from 
President Kocharian, which, while not at all guaranteed, is 
not completely out of the realm of possibility. 
GODFREY