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On February 24-25, the Committee Meetings of the Winter Meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE PA) were held.

During the online meeting of the General Committee on Economic Affairs, Science, Technology and Environment the member of the RA NA delegation to OSCE PA Maria Karapetyan gave a speech, noting:

“I would like to thank Mr. Richey for his presentation and especially for the examples of legislation needed to be adopted by the countries. I thank also Congressman Chris Smith for his tireless consistent work on the topic of combatting human trafficking.

I want to share a glimpse of what Armenia has done in the sphere of preventing human trafficking and providing services to victims. In my view, the most important change in the last two years has been that Armenia has doubled the state budget on the program for rehabilitation of victims of human trafficking, exploitation and sexual violence. This program covers hotlines, shelters, medical care, legal services, psychological and counseling assistance, basic education.

I would also like to share the data we have for 2021 to better communicate the situation in Armenia. In 2021, 31 cases were reported and treated regarding human trafficking and exploitation. This included 6 men and 25 women. 24 of the cases were cases of sexual exploitation and 7 cases were cases of labor exploitation.

With this being the current data, Armenia will continue to better its legislation and structures to prevent human trafficking and provide better rehabilitation services and contributing to the global effort for ending human trafficking.”