Ara at Martuni or Bust writes about human trafficking that is becoming more serious in Armenia and in the rural areas in particular where people are poorer. In my previous post discussing the industriousness of the Armenian woman, you can understand how people praying on these young women can use their drive to improve the situation for themselves and their family against them. A lot of information about the problem can be found on HETQ.am which of course is a tremendously important organization which has brought light to the issue of human trafficking.

On a semi-regular basis young people will bring me announcements and ask me if they should apply. I give them ways to research the background of the advertisement to be sure it is legitimate. I impress upon them that they cannot go forward with blind trust. The aftermath of blind trust is always awful to hear. Especially around New Year when people begin to return back from the far flung places they have gone to work, you will begin to hear the horror stories. Stories such as the one of a 20 year old man who just completed his army service who took a construction job only to find out that after months of work he will not be paid for the hundreds of hours of work and faces deportation from Russia. For young women, the story is always darker. People seem to whisper with a sense of fear and disbelief in their eyes when they discuss it. The fact that someone from their community in essence has been kidnapped and the poor parents have not heard from their girl for some time. People rarely say what the girl is doing but it is understood that she is broken. She cannot come back even if she some how escapes her binds in Dubai, the Balkans or Russia because who will she marry? Who will have her? The awful event of being forced into slavery is only made worse by the shunning of a community.

Ara again focuses light on this very important issue. This issue is not solvable by the people of Armenia alone. The whole Armenian community and the world community for that matter must help prevent this problem. I believe it to be an economic problem. Only through economic opportunity in Armenia will we see this problem go away for the Armenian people.

I will say Ara is right in that this shows an ever increasing problem in Armenia. Armenians are special in that they have a connection unlike any other nation of people in the world. That connection is the key to future success in this problem and many others. It will take many people working together to solve this awful problem.

In closing, please support HETQ.am. This publication is a one of the few strong voices for change in Armenia. It is time to begin to deal with the ills that plague the young people of Armenia.