Tweetathon, march, “wall of shame” - Armenia marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Tweetathon
To raise awareness of this year's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign and of gender-based violence in general, a group of civil society organisations are planning a Tweetathon this Friday, 25 Nov 2011. Friday is the first of the 16 Days and the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

To participate in the Tweetathon, please join the conversation by using the #16days hashtag. Here are a few suggestions via Women’s Resource Center and PINK Armenia:

"This Friday is #IDEVAW and the start of #16days2011. Join the #16days tweetathon on 25 Nov to spread awareness about #GBV & #VAW" 

"Today is #IDEVAW and the start of #16days2011. What can we do to combat #GBV & #VAW all year? Share your thoughts using the #16days hashtag" 

"Happening now: #16days tweetathon. Check out what people are saying about #GBV & #VAW and join the conversation! #IDEVAW #16days2011" 

"#FollowFriday: the #16days tweetathon! #GBV #VAW #IDEVAW #16days2011 #FF"

March
Few stats via Women’s Resource Center, Armenia:

1 in every 3 women experiencing domestic violence around the world are also subjected to sexual assault.
In the first semester of 2011 there were 10 registered legal cases on trafficking in Armenia; 8 are related to sexual trafficking of women.
In Armenia, women are still getting abortions based on gender choice (favoring male fetuses over female). The gender ratio has reached a scandalous level and organizations are getting worried.
In Armenia, we have 131 deputies and only 11 among them are women.
Poverty strikes women the most; globally 70% among the poorest are women.
In Armenia, we have 18 ministers, among them only 2 are women.
In the world, 95% of victims of domestic violence are women.
No one will be protected against violence if we stay silent!
In Armenia, approximately 1 671 012 of the population is female.
You have 1 671 012 reasons to join this march to stop violence against women and girls on 25 November!

Street action "Wall of shame" 

(Unzipped: reminds me in concept my Hall of Shame)

Women's Rights Center organises a street action called "Wall of shame" in the framework of 16 Days of Activism. During the action a poster demonstrating husband’s violent behavior towards her wife (the scene is caught by their little daughter) will be presented in the center of the avenue. Papers and pens will be distributed to the passersby, who may express their feelings and comments on that picture. It is anticipated that the picture will be covered with different comments of the passersby until the end of the action.

The WikiLeaks files - Armenia: Vanadzor emerges as Armenia’s commercial sex capital

Below are selected extracts. US embassy cables in full.

A PROSTITUTE'S STORY: SEX AND TRAFFICKING IN VANADZOR

A DIFFERENT KIND OF TRAFFICKING
We went to Vanadzor expecting to hear stories of illicit smuggling across borders and of girls lured into prostitution under false pretenses. What we heard was significantly more pedestrian. According to Aida and Suzy, very few Vanadzor women are tricked into working in Dubai or Istanbul brothels these days. They go knowingly, on legal passports, with legal visas, and for the most part without having to bribe border guards to let them through. They share buses and airplanes with underwear salesgirls traveling to buy more inventory and the odd middle-class family going on holiday. Pre-teenage girls ride buses to Turkey carrying permission letters signed by their parents, who for the most part have dispatched their daughters themselves, and who understand exactly how young Anahit or Armine will earn the several hundred dollars she will send home each month. And while the prostitutes and the NGO employees we met said sometimes women are abused in the brothels, or aren't paid in full, they said the greater part of women generally understand what they are getting themselves into, and may already have worked as prostitutes for years. Far from being the pursuit of violent smuggling rings who kidnap women and sell them into slavery, trafficking in Armenia is largely a result of the poor economy, they said, and has mostly to do with opportunistic pimps taking advantage of women who are already willing to prostitute themselves.

And there are a lot of willing women in Vanadzor. Hope and Help's Satik Grigoryan told us the NGO has registered more than 200 prostitutes. Aida estimated that 70 percent of women in Vanadzor are prostitutes, drawing laughs from the Hope and Help employees. While her figure was inflated, the statement outlined how pervasive prostitution is in Vanadzor. Prostitutes come to the clinic for regular check-ups and to replenish their condom stocks. Grigoryan told us that most of the prostitutes had never seen or heard of such contraceptives before they came to Hope and Help. She gave Aida and Suzy a couple of chocolates and a fistful of condoms each before they went home.

POLICE role questioned
Rudik Varosyan, head of the department on minors in the Vanadzor police department, told us trafficking in minors is an emerging problem in Vanadzor. He said most Vanadzor women -- and girls -- who go to Turkey to engage in prostitution are not being lured under false pretenses. More and more underage girls are being sent by their families to go and earn a little money, Varosyan said, adding that he has never heard of a case in which a minor went without parental permission. "Some parents are proud that their kids are there making money," he told us. He said the women and girls who went to Turkey usually were not held prisoner, and they were usually paid, though not necessarily in full. After the women were deported, Varosyan said, they often became recruiters for the pimps in Turkey. Varosyan said it was hard to fight the trafficking organizations because the pimps usually operate through intermediaries who never actually meet them. When police bring a case to court, the intermediary gets nailed, and the pimp continues her business, having suffered only minor inconvenience.

Though Varosyan clearly took to heart the plight of pre-teen and teenage prostitutes, local NGO staff told us that the police actually help facilitate prostitution. Artur Sakunts of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly told us his organization wanted to look into allegations by locals that the Vanadzor police protected pimps and threatened prostitutes who wanted to quit their jobs. (Note: Aida told us police hindered her work by forcing her to undergo annual medical check-ups. End Note.) Other NGO staff told us about cases of police patronizing the prostitutes. Sakunts corroborated Varosyan's story about parents forcing their daughters to become prostitutes. Sakunts also noted that the domik village was a prostitution hub: home to a large percentage of the Vanadzor sex trade workforce while also serving as their workplace. Aida told us prostitutes there often work for a bag of rice or a few pieces of bread.

COMMENT: “... two Armenias: Yerevan, and the rest of the country”
Many visitors to Armenia who see only Yerevan -- with its pretty main square and shiny Hummers and BMW X5s -- and leave thinking the country is doing well economically. Armenians and seasoned expats often tell these visitors that there are two Armenias: Yerevan, and the rest of the country. Our trip to Vanadzor was like a spin on the focus dial of a pair of binoculars; afterwards, the distinction was clear to us, and in sharp relief. It is easy, sitting in the relatively well-to-do capital city, to put the problem squarely in the laps of lawmakers and law enforcement, and to bang our fists on the government's coffee tables to demand that they work harder to stop the crimes. But fist-banging won't change the fact that many prostitutes work simply to get food on the table, and that they believe they will be paid better in Turkey or the UAE. The Armenian government cannot improve a bad economy with stricter laws and harsher sentencing. While both are needed here, Armenia has to offer these women an alternative to turning tricks if it is to eradicate trafficking.

[By: Amb. John M. Evans]

The WikiLeaks files - Armenia: Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan recalls ‘old Armenian saying’, blames victims, and asks to investigate the NGO that aided them. Alleged corruption and abuse in PG’s office

Below are selected extracts. US embassy cables in full.

AMBASSADOR PUSHES PROSECUTOR GENERAL ON TRAFFICKING CORRUPTION ALLEGATIONS

SUMMARY
Ambassador, DCM and Poloff met with Armenian Prosecutor General (PG) Aghvan Hovsepyan August 8 about allegations of investigative misconduct and abuse in connection with a human trafficking case. The underlying case involves three prostitutes who allege they were trafficked from Armenia to Turkey via Georgia with fraudulent documents, and coerced and deprived of payment under threat of arrest. Hovsepyan began by saying he was familiar with the case and rejecting the allegations out of hand; however, he eventually committed to investigating the allegations. The PG first defamed the victims, and volunteered that he had asked the National Security Service (NSS) to investigate the NGO that had aided them. After a long discussion, he came around to a more responsive approach. End Summary.

PROSTITUTES ALLEGE CORRUPTION IN PG'S OFFICE
On July 28, three alleged trafficking victims from Gyumri, Armenia's second-largest city, were interviewed by investigators from the PG's office. After their interview, they stormed fuming into the Yerevan branch of "Hope and Help," an NGO that assists prostitutes and trafficking victims, to complain about the conduct of investigators Armen Gasparyan and Aristakes Yeremyan. (COMMENT: Yeremyan has been accused of complicity with traffickers before. The PG's office opened what we believe was a cursory investigation into those allegations in February.)

[two of the three prostitutes] Mkrtchyan and Madoyan claimed PG office investigators Gasparyan and Yeremyan told them to recant the testimonies they had given to the police. Madoyan also claimed Yeremyan struck her in the face during a July 31 meeting. Among their complaints were that the investigators told them to say the trafficker owed them less money than she actually did, and accused them of filing police statements in order to blackmail the alleged trafficker. (NOTE: Under the Armenian system, criminal investigators are an arm of the PG's office, and thus of the judicial branch. Police services are separate, and fall under the purview of the executive branch.)

COMMENT: There were some discrepancies in the victims' stories. We also have some questions about the mental competence of one of the victims. The complete circumstances of the matter are therefore legitimately open to some question. We are persuaded, however, that the basic facts of the case are accurate. Investigating authorities must take such allegations seriously, and not dismiss them out of hand because they find the victims distasteful.

THERE IS AN OLD ARMENIAN SAYING
Ambassador, DCM and Poloff met together with the PG to underline the seriousness of the case, both in its own right and as a bellwether for Armenian authorities' handling of TIP cases. The Ambassador discussed in detail several of the allegations, and stressed that they presented an opportunity for the PG's office to demonstrate its commitment to anti-TIP efforts.

Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan was aware of the reason for our call. He smirked unmistakeably as the Ambassador raised our points. Hovsepyan spent a few minutes listing the GOAM's achievements on trafficking, before addressing the case at hand. He then told us he had heard about these allegations a week earlier from the National Security Service (NSS), adding that he had then asked the NSS to investigate both the victims and the NGO that had reported the allegations to the government. (NOTE: The Ambassador did not mention the NGO specifically, but when the prosecutor did so, he confirmed that an NGO had been involved.)

Hovsepyan said he had personally investigated the allegations, and said that the case notes made it clear that the prostitutes had been lying. He characterized them as "unconscientious and non-compliant," saying derisively that they were "governed by different interests in their daily lives." He kept repeating that the prostitutes were angry that the investigators were not helping them recover their unpaid salaries from the pimp, and that money had motivated the allegations. He robustly defended Yeremyan. (NOTE: This is not surprising, given information we have received from Anti-TIP Unit Senior Prosecutor Armen Boshnaghyan (please protect) that the investigator has Hovsepyan's full support) During his impassioned defense of Yeremyan, Hovsepyan cited an Armenian proverb which, roughly translated, means "May God keep us from the evil that comes from prostitutes."

PG AGREES TO INVESTIGATE
The Ambassador said he disagreed with the proverb, and that the shared Christian heritage of our countries compelled us to "hate the crime, but love the victim." He told Hovsepyan that he was troubled to hear that the prosecutor general had asked the NSS to investigate the prostitutes and the NGO, rather than investigate the allegations. Hovsepyan said there must have been a translation error, and that he actually had said that he asked the NSS to investigate the allegations, since it would not do to have the PG's office investigate itself. (NOTE: There was no translation error.) A few minutes later, Hovsepyan said his office had in fact been investigating the complaints for a week, and that it would continue to do so.

Finally, Hovsepyan agreed to launch an internal investigation of the allegations. He said he would solicit the NGO's input. But he continued to sing Yeremyan's praises and to accuse the prostitutes of lying. He also mentioned that Yeremyan had asked repeatedly to be moved out of the Anti-TIP Unit, and that he would consider granting that request.

COMMENT: MUCH CAUSE FOR CONCERN, BUT ALL IS NOT LOST
Hovsepyan's performance was in character and betrayed the PG's apparent personal attitude toward trafficking victims and cases. We think we have at least ensured a more serious investigation of this case. We intend to pursue this matter further, and are optimistic that bringing pressure to bear on the MFA will achieve results, given President Kocharian's interest in Armenia's TIP rating. We will make the point that the next Interim Assessment is coming up.

[By: Amb. John M. Evans]