The U.S. Department of State, in its July 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report, writes that the Armenian government “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking but is making significant efforts to do so.”

The U.S. State Department places each country in this report onto one of four tiers, as mandated by the TVPA (Trafficking Victims Protection Act). This placement is based not on the size of a country’s problem but on the extent of government efforts to meet the TVPA’s minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking

Tier 1 is the highest ranking indicating that a government has made efforts to address the problem that meet the TVPA’s minimum standards

Armenia was issued a Tier 2 ranking - Countries whose governments do not fully meet the TVPA’s minimum standards but are making significant efforts to bring themselves into compliance with those standards.

The report notes:

The Armenian government demonstrated overall increasing efforts compared with the previous reporting period, considering the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, if any, on its anti-trafficking capacity; therefore, Armenia remained on Tier 2.

However, the Armenian government did not meet the minimum standards in several key areas. Police continued to repeatedly interrogate victims for long hours though reportedly within legal limits. First responders did not consistently screen vulnerable populations for trafficking indicators, while police in some remote areas lacked information and training to inform victims of their rights and victims continued to face low access to justice, including an absence of victim-centered procedures and formal victim-witness protection measures.

As reported over the past five years, human traffickers exploit domestic and foreign victims in Armenia, as well as victims from Armenia abroad. Traffickers exploit some of the Armenian migrants who seek employment in Russia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Turkey in forced labor, often through recruitment fraud and exorbitant recruitment fees charged by labor brokers. Armenian women may also be exploited in sex trafficking in the UAE and Turkey. Armenian women may be exploited in sex and labor trafficking and forced begging within the country.

Eleven governments were singled out with a documented “policy or pattern” of human trafficking, trafficking in government-funded programs, forced labor in government-affiliated medical services or other sectors, sexual slavery in government camps, or the employment or recruitment of child soldiers: Afghanistan, Burma, People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan.