Desert Nights

www.hetq.am
[March 16, 2005]

The City of Temptation

Nights are always mysterious, Arabian nights even more so. The dark engulfs the limitless desert all at once. The yellow tinges of the horizon fade away and vanish, opening the way to the Thousand and One Arabian Nights. Sunlight is unnoticeably replaced by the light of streetlamps. In Dubai, the day has just started...

The sky is full of stars, shining brightly. Down below, there are lights shining with nearly as stellar a glow.

The most characteristic thing about Dubai at night is its cafés, where Arabs enjoy a narghile or a cup of coffee. The coffee here is indescribably delicious. Locals say that the bitterness of the coffee is the real taste of the times.

The seven Arab Emirates united in 1971 and, on a piece of land stretching over eighty thousand square kilometers on the southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula, the United Arab Emirates - the miracle of the East - was established.

This is an old country, however. In the years before Christ, ships would set sail here for different parts of the world. On the shores of the Emirates, in Ras Al Khaima, the ruins of the palace of Queen Savskaya, who captured the heart of King Solomon, are preserved to this day.

Oil, discovered in the 1970s, brought riches to the country.

Each of the Emirs is the absolute ruler of his Emirate. The Sheikh of Abu Dhabi is the President of the UAE. Each Emirate has its own history, traditions, and characteristics. The Emirate of Dubai, however, stands out from the rest because it combines the features of all of the Emirates, becoming a unique melting-pot of sorts.

Dubai is the second largest of the Emirates, and is considered the “gateway to tourism” in the Middle East. It was declared a free economic zone in 1985. Strict Muslim traditions are absent in Dubai. For this reason, Dubai's policies are frowned upon by some other Arab countries. Many locals resent the freedom with which women on the streets express themselves. However, they do not outwardly reveal this displeasure. For centuries, Dubai had been called the City of Merchants. Dubai has always welcomed traders and travelers with open arms. This hospitality has been preserved to this day.

The Al-Maktoum dynasty has ruled over Dubai since 1330.

The city is divided by the 10-km Khor Dubai Strait. Taking a ride on a small boat, you can see both shores, with wooden boats moored to them laden with goods from India, China, and Africa, and merchants with their tents set up right on the shore, just as it was seven centuries ago.

Dubai's streets are clean and safe. You can find anything you want here. Dubai is one of the world's most dynamically developing commercial centers and hosts major international conferences, exhibitions, and festivals. It is considered one of the safest cities in the world, and has been honored with the title "Safest Travel Destination Worldwide" on more than one occasion. The Dubai Shopping Festival is held in the Emirates every year, and has been given the name "Summer Surprises". The latest goods are on offer during the festival, and various events are organized.

Dubai is also a city of contrasts. Every kind of gambling is forbidden. The strictest punishments have been laid out for crimes related to drugs and sex. But this does nothing to stop a booming sex trade.

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Desert Nights

www.hetw.am
[March 16, 2005]

Nearly $9 million was transferred from Dubai to Armenia in 2004

These are the amounts of bank wire transfers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Armenia over the last four years.

2001 $ 654,200
2002 $ 3,933,000
2003 $ 5,769,500
2004 $ 8,792,800

This information, provided to us by the Armenian Central Bank's public relations department, reveals a significant increase in money transfers from 2001 to 2004.

Why has there been such an increase, and who is sending the money?

We know that many Armenian businesses import different products from the UAE. But this involves sending money to the UAE from Armenia. According to Armenia's Ministry of Trade and Economic Development, in the last 14 years (1991-2004), Armenian businesses invested $4,356,000 into the UAE. This is a small sum compared to the amount of money that is sent the other way. In the last four years alone, $19,149,000 was transferred to Armenia from the UAE.

The increase of money transfers from the UAE reflects the growth in the sex trade in recent years. It is probably safe to say that this money is sent to Armenia by Armenian pimps and prostitutes. The prostitutes themselves told us that they use banks to send money to their relatives at home. But this is only a fraction of the money sent; the rest is transferred by Armenian pimps, who send part of the money to their relatives, and the rest to unknown recipients. It's hard for a journalist to prove this. But there are government agencies that could easily find out who regularly receives this money. If, of course, they want to find out.

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Desert Nights

www.hetw.am
[March 16, 2005]

Nobody knows the number of Armenian prostitutes in Arab countries

Dubai's Armenian pimps are notorious for their criminal past. Most of them have been arrested at least once in Armenia for pimping and have spent at least one year in jail.

No one can say how many Armenian prostitutes there are in Arab countries. According to our own one-month investigation, at least 2,000 Armenian women are involved in the sex trade in the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman.

Eliz, an Armenian pimp, was in Dubai in March 2004, but today she and her women, who include underage Armenian prostitutes, are in neighboring Bahrain.

G., a prostitute from Yerevan who has been in Dubai for four years, told us, "Now there are more, probably two thousand of them. You can't imagine what's going on now. Several days ago I went to the Indian restaurant in the Marco Polo hotel, and I saw at least twenty Armenians [prostitutes]. You should have seen what they were like; they're probably all village girls.”

K. from Yerevan told us she felt free and happy in Dubai. "I have everything, I have no problem in my life," she said.

Armenian prostitutes can always be found the nightclub at the Sheraton or the bar at the Broadway Hotel. There already there by noon, greeted like old friends. They can sit for hours in the bar without ordering anything.

It's not so easy to get into the Cyclone. Security guards check for passports and visas, and don't let women in if they catch them with fake documents. They do a face check, too, to keep women out if they're too old or too ugly.

“Ano has a Xerox machine and she uses it to fake documents. They change the photos on the visas. Sometimes the visa has a Russian or Uzbek name, and the photo is of a totally different person. The photo on S.'s visa is hers, but the family name is of a girl from Uzbekistan.”

Anush, or Ano, is a notorious pimp in Dubai, a middleman between pimps in the UAE and certain officials from the Armenian law enforcement agencies. It was Anush who met these officials when they were visiting the Emirates.

Armenian prostitutes in Dubai can be divided into three groups: prostitutes who work under the supervision of pimps, prostitutes who work independently because they have paid their debts to the pimps, and prostitutes who have become the mistresses of local men who do not want them to have any other clients.

Twenty-three-year-old D. from Gyumri has a three-year resident visa. Her sister N. now has a boyfriend she lives with, Jamal, an Arab from Qatar. She no longer works; Jamal doesn't let her. The two sisters work in Jamal's office, N. as a manager and D. as an assistant to the accountant. Since they have resident visas, they can freely go back and forth to Armenia. D. is still working as a prostitute.

There are many cases of Armenian women who have married locals, becoming one of their many wives. These women wear Arabic clothes, change their religion, and adapt to the culture of their “masters”.

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Desert Nights: An Interview with Ara Manoogian

Armenian News Network / Groong
March 15, 2005

by Onnik Krikorian


Ara Manoogian is an American-Armenian living and working in the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabagh. He is the grandson of Shahan Natalie, a famous Armenian writer and activist, and works for the foundation established in his grandfather’s name.

Through this foundation he has conducted a number of high-profile investigations into corruption and human rights related issues in both Armenia and Nagorno Karabagh.

His most recent was conducted in collaboration with Edik Baghdasarian, Editor-in-Chief of Hetq Online, who investigated the trafficking of women and children from Armenia to the United Arab Emirates.


ONNIK KRIKORIAN: You’ve recently returned from your third and final trip to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where you were involved in an investigation into the problem of trafficking from Armenia. When did this investigation start?

ARA MANOOGIAN: Edik Baghdasarian and I started this investigation at the beginning of 2004 although we had discussed this problem on many occasions prior to that. From reading many reports from international organizations in Armenia, we knew that there was a problem and so, at the beginning of 2004, we decided to examine the situation on the ground to determine whether those reports were accurate.

On our first trip to Dubai in February or March 2004, we very quickly discovered where the Armenian girls were although we spoke with only one girl at first. When we noticed the sad look on her face, we considered that she was a possible victim. She reminded me very much of girls from Nagorno Karabagh and as it turned out, she was a refugee from Azerbaijan.

She was twenty or twenty-one years old and was divorced from her childhood seetheart who left for Russia because of the harsh economic condition in the country leaving her alone to bring up her daughter. Because she had been unable to find employment that would pay her a decent living wage, and as she was a very beautiful girl, she said there were only a few options available to her.

She could either work in a store in Armenia for 30,000 drams (about $60) a month and be expected to sleep with her boss or she could go "elsewhere" to work. In a sense then, she was in Dubai voluntarily and we discovered that she partially knew what she was getting herself into. However, she did admit that she wasn’t expecting Dubai and other Arab countries to be so rough and dangerous, especially for girls.


OK: Do you consider that she was a victim in the sense that as a single mother unable to support her family in Armenia she had no choice but to find this type of work abroad?

AM: Yes, that’s what she felt. Incidentally, on our third trip we tried to find her again but her phone had been disconnected.



OK: Were most of the girls at least partially deceived into working abroad as prostitutes?

AM: I would say that a large number of girls from Armenia are tricked into coming by being offered an opportunity to find employment outside Armenia. Speaking to these girls, most seemed very naive and uneducated. Many came from broken homes.

However, we also visited a hotel in Dubai called the St. George that accommodated a couple of hundred Armenian girls, most of whom appeared to have come to Dubai voluntarily. Even there, however, we found a few girls that had been tricked into coming by friends already working in Dubai.

Because we knew that we had to get inside this ring to collect information, we also managed to discover which girls were truly the victims of trafficking and which were not. As a result, those that had been tricked wanted to expose those responsible for their situation.


OK: That sounds a little risky. I would imagine that those responsible for trafficking are not people you want to mess with. All you needed was one girl to tell her trafficker what you were doing...

AM: We think that there was one girl like that and on my last week I was followed everywhere so yes, that risk did exist. However, the girls we trusted were quite reliable for the most part and nothing serious happened.


OK: How old were the girls?

AM: We heard that there were fourteen year olds in Dubai but the youngest I personally saw was sixteen. The oldest was about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.


OK: How did these girls manage to enter a country such as the United Arab Emirates which has very strict rules of entry, especially for young women and girls traveling alone?

AM: From what we were told and from what we saw in the form of documents, the girls were first taken to Russia where false passports are prepared. Usually, the first names of the girls are kept the same, and sometimes even their surnames, but their date of birth is changed to make them over thirty. However, because they still appear to be, and actually are, younger it appears that the authorities in the UAE are therefore involved. These girls are not even questioned about their passports when they enter the country.


OK: What you’re saying is that nobody bothers to question these young girls traveling on passports indicating that they are, in some cases, twice as old as they actually are when entering the UAE?

AM: Actually, the passports they’re traveling on are the old red [Soviet] passports which, I think, are not recognized anywhere else in the world apart from in the UAE.


OK: Presumably, the same is true when the girls leave Russia?

AM: From what these girls told us, they actually have two passports. They leave Russia on their Armenian passport but then, when they board their flight, they hide it in one of their shoes and enter the UAE on their Russian passport.


OK: When they arrive in Dubai, do they still retain their passports?

AM: No. The trafficker takes all of their documents when they arrive and gives them a Xerox of their fake passport and visa which is sufficient for them to travel around and stay in hotels.


OK: What happens then? After working for the traffickers, can they eventually buy back their passports?

AM: Yes, they can buy back their freedom. The way this works is that the trafficker decides their "debt" which varies between $6-12,000. I’m not sure how the debt is determined but anyway, the girls work and give all their income to the trafficker who sends a minimum of $100 a month to their families in Armenia who presumably think that they are working in Russia, Greece, Spain or some other country. After the "debt" is "settled," their documents are then returned and the girls are given the option to continue to work in the UAE under the protection of the trafficker who takes a percentage of the money they earn.



OK: How many Armenian girls are working as prostitutes in the UAE?

AM: We can’t put a concrete figure on this but initial figures from various organizations estimate that there are approximately five hundred. However, I personally saw over two hundred girls in only four or five locations but others are known to be working in other places. Edik went to other locations that I didn’t, for example, and reported that there were also a large number of girls from Armenia there. Therefore, based on what we saw and from speaking to the girls themselves, I’d say that there are as many as two thousand Armenian girls working in the UAE. I would say that this is a realistic and believable figure.


OK: Is there enough evidence to take legal action against anyone involved in the trafficking of women and children from Armenia to the UAE?

AM: Yes, and we will be pursuing the matter once our film is ready. We would expect some arrests to be made later and maybe even prior to the completion of the film. Many of the articles we have already published are accompanied by pictures of people involved in trafficking and one woman wanted by Interpol is currently in jail in Armenia. However, she is only serving a light sentence.


OK: I remember this case from one of your articles. You suggest that this particular woman returned to Armenia knowing full well she would be imprisoned for a short period of time in order to clear her name off Interpol’s list.

AM: Yes, and if the law worked, she would be facing additional charges.


OK: Is this the problem, then? Is the law not functioning correctly or are sentences for trafficking simply too light?

AM: The law contains provisions to hand down heavy sentences to traffickers but the legal system is not functioning correctly. I was present at the trial of five traffickers in Armenia last August and as far as I am concerned, Judge Ohanian and the prosecutor failed to do their jobs properly. These individuals should have received sentences of at least ten years but when Gulnara Shahinian, an expert on trafficking, presented the judge with details of Armenia’s international obligations
to prosecute those guilty of trafficking, he instead insisted on prosecuting them with old Soviet laws that carried lighter sentences of only two years.


OK: Why do you think that was?

AM: The evidence we collected on three trips suggests that there are officials in Armenia and the UAE that are directly involved in trafficking. There is not a single doubt in my mind that they are directly involved.


OK: If that’s the case, and after talking about possible risks in Dubai, isn’t it potentially dangerous to expose those responsible for trafficking in Armenia?

AM: We’re in the homeland.


OK: That gives you protection?

AM: Yes. In fact, it gives me a great deal of protection because my family has conducted this kind of work for many, many years and my grandfather as well as the foundation established in his name is very well respected by the Minister of Defense and the military. As a result, I’m not concerned at all and anyway, I’m a true believer in fate. When someone’s time comes, that’s their time. I’m not a person who lives in fear and it is for that reason that I do what I do. It has to be done.


OK: Now that Hetq Online has examined the problem of trafficking from Armenia to the UAE, what do you think the Armenian Government’s response should be?

AM: The Armenian Government’s response should be to denounce this as not being culturally cohesive and as being wrong. However, the Government has known about this problem for a number of years and I’m still unable to comprehend why it has not yet issued any additional statement on the matter.

Regardless, the Armenian Government, as well as the Church and the Diaspora, needs to take a strong position on this problem. What we have discovered, and what we have published up until now, is irrefutable. The evidence is there and it’s unreasonable for people to go into denial.


OK: However, do you think that it’s considered culturally taboo to talk about such issues?

AM: Absolutely, and what I’ve noticed from my own internet blog where quite a few of the articles have been republished is that few readers want to publicly comment on the findings of our investigation. Of course, I’ve received some private emails which have been very positive and there have also been some financial commitments from readers for future investigative work but only on the provision that these donations are made anonymously. Otherwise, it would appear that many Armenians in
the Diaspora, and even here in Armenia, are in shock.


OK: It’s also interesting to point out that one of those responsible for funding this investigation is a prominent Diasporan who also prefers to remain anonymous. It’s good that they supported this project, of course, but very interesting to note that they don’t want their name to be known. Ironically, however, you would have thought that it is precisely these people that should be acknowledged and appreciated.

AM: There were also some donations from a number of other individuals that wanted to remain anonymous. However, a number of others who said that they understood the importance of this work declined. Presumably this was because they were afraid of the possible fallout.


OK: There’s also a sizeable Armenian Community in the UAE. Were they willing and able to assist in your investigation, albeit anonymously?

AM: No. You have to understand that unless you are born in the UAE, almost everyone is on a residency visa and because the Government is directly involved with trafficking, the Armenians living and working there chose not to be involved in any shape, form or fashion even though I’m sure that many would have liked to have been. Because we understood that situation we pretty much left the Armenian community alone.


OK: What about the Diaspora in the United States and Europe. They don’t face any risk so what do you think they should do?

AM: I’ve received emails from Armenians in the Diaspora who say that they found this investigation very "interesting." Unfortunately, the problem of trafficking is not "interesting." It’s very sad and shouldn’t be looked upon as just another human interest story. It is instead an issue that affects all of us regardless of whether these girls went to the UAE voluntarily or not. The reason why this phenomenon exists today is economic and therefore, it is resolvable. However, it will take commitment but until then, Armenia is in a situation that I would describe as being out of control.


OK: Do you think that the Diaspora should speak out about such issues?

AM: Absolutely. The Diaspora, or at least those who have a sense of belonging, has a responsibility to do so. Unfortunately, the Armenian Government does not understand the concept of civil service or the fact that they are civil servants. This has to change and Armenians in the Diaspora can assert a certain amount of pressure on the Government to do so. However, so far they’re not.

Instead, there’s a certain mentality that’s probably very damaging for this nation. It’s the idea of something being "amot (shameful)." I’ve heard this over and over again and the notion that it’s shameful to talk about problems such as trafficking. It’s much easier to ignore the problem but, in my opinion, there’s nothing shameful in talking about such problems if the situation can be changed as a result. The Armenian Diaspora can play a role in that and perhaps I’m evidence of that.


OK: However, you’re just one person out of six million.

AM: Yes, I’m one of six million but my voice has been heard time and time again and I’ve achieved results. If properly coordinated, I believe that other individuals and organizations can also have a positive impact in determining the future of our nation. In my opinion, it’s time for the Diaspora to wake up. When people remain silent, they can only contribute to perpetuating such problems.


OK: Of course, some people, especially in the Diaspora, might instead criticize you for concentrating only on the negative aspects of life in Armenia. How would you respond to those that accuse you of dirtying the country’s image abroad?

AM: I would say that unless we address the problems that threaten the future of this nation, there can be no moving forward. However, I’d also add that I think of myself as an optimist and believe that Armenia has a promising future if these problems are resolved.

---
Edik Baghdasarian and Ara Manoogian’s investigation into the trafficking of women and children from Armenia can be read online at http://www.hetq.am. Ara Manoogian’s blog from Armenia and Nagorno-Karabagh, Martuni or Bust, can be read online at
http://www.aramanoogian.blogspot.com.

--
Onnik Krikorian is a freelance journalist and photojournalist from the United Kingdom now living and working in the Republic of Armenia.

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Desert Nights

www.hetq.am
[March 9, 2005]

Recruiters are free to work in Yerevan

21-year-old A. went to Dubai with her sister N. Her sister, known as Klara to the locals, is still there.

We met A. in Yerevan. Her mother told us how one day she met a man called Vagho, who lived in the Yerrord Mas neighborhood in Yerevan. “When I told him that my girls weren't working, he told me he could help them find a job in Greece, picking oranges,” she said. He introduced her to Sirush, a woman who lived in Bangladesh (a neighborhood in Yerevan). “Her name is Sirush, but she is also known as Gayane,” A's mother explained.

“My sister and I went to Moscow on February 14, 2004” A. went on with the story. “A guy named Ara met us there. He was nervous, always looking around. In one room there were eleven girls from different places. There was one girl who had gangrene in her leg, and was also kind of retarded. They sent her back. There was a guy there, too, called Sevo.”

In Moscow, the girls' passports were exchanged for Russian ones. In her new passport, twenty-one-year-old A. became thirty-one.

“At that point, they split us up. At the Dubai airport, we went different places. Marietta took me. When I found out what they brought me for, I told them that I was a virgin, and wouldn't do that kind of thing. They didn't believe me. They brought a doctor, who verified that I was indeed a virgin. I was crying the whole time, and telling them I'd commit suicide, that I'd throw myself from the third floor. We were living on the third floor. Marietta said she had already spent $5,000 on me, and she needed it back before she could let me go. I realized that I had been sold.

“They kept beating my sister, and any of the girls who disobeyed them. Ali, a tall Arab with long hair, would do the beating. Afterwards, Marietta paid him,” A. told us.

A. was given to a sheikh named Mohammed. As A. tells it, she ran away from the sheikh's house. But according to Armenian prostitutes we spoke to in Dubai, Marietta sold A. to the sheikh for $20,000, since she was a virgin. Later, Marietta gave A. $5,000 and she came back to Yerevan.

Another one of the girls in Moscow was from Yerevan. She was from an extremely poor family who lived in a shack on the outskirts of town. Again, the mother was told she was going to Greece to pick oranges, and the girl was recruited by Sirush from Bangladesh.

When the girl was still in Moscow, her brother somehow found out that his sister was going to Dubai and that Sirush was responsible.

“I went to Sirush and told her that if I didn't get my daughter back within 24 hours, I would go to the police, “ the girl's mother said. “She panicked and told me that she'd bring her back in two days. And my girl came home after a few days. Otherwise she would have gone and perished. She was two months pregnant at the time.”

We decided to look for Sirush, to find out if she was still recruiting girls. We had a student from the journalism department at Yerevan State University call Sirush, saying she had gotten her number from a friend, who with Sirush's help, was currently working in Dubai.

The student went to meet Sirush and Nelli in Bangladesh. She told them she was in dire need of money, and said that her family was in debt. We secretly recorded the entire conversation. First, Sirush talked about how much work she did.

“I've sent more than a hundred people to the Emirates. They were from 16 to 27. I don't take anyone older. I remember Suzy from Kirovakan, Kiso, Lilo, Flori, Hasilko, Armine, Anna from Yerevan.

“I've been doing this for a long time now. The people I like, I sent them one place. The people I don't, they're going somewhere else. I try to send them separately, so it won't be too obvious at the airport. First I send them to Moscow, where I have five or six people who take turns meeting them. They have connections at the airport, they're sort of a mafia there.”

Sirush then told the student the rules. “I'll talk about you with Nano, my cousin from Kirovakan. If she says OK, then you can fly tomorrow. She's staying in Dubai, in Bardubai, a rich neighborhood. She rents three houses and supervises 20-25 people. She is rich, has a car, everything. It'll cost me $3,000 - $4,000 to get you to Dubai. You'll be met in Moscow and they'll get you a new passport. After that you'll go to Dubai. There, how much you earn, what happens to you, is up to you. Maybe you'll be standing there, lost and confused. Nano's no cheap Mama Rose, who's going to put you there and [expletive].”

Nelli interrupted to say that the girls had very good living conditions in Dubai. “Go, you'll see the life. Live your life. Whatever you eat and drink, whatever you wear is free. And you'll have money too,” she said enthusiastically.

“What are going to do here? If you go there, you won't want to come back. We are close with the girls' parents, their mothers come to see us, and we go their houses. There's no way we could trick anybody, kidnap anybody from the street. You don't need anything [to go to Dubai]. All you need is your passport and some food and cigarettes. You go and they'll give you clothes, drinks. I sent my own daughter!”

At the end of the conversation, they decided on a day for the student to fly to Moscow.

In Moscow the Armenian pimps have their own people working for them. They are an important link in the Armenian sex trade. When we were in Dubai in June 2004, the prostitutes we knew told us that in the police had arrested the men who were sending girls to Dubai in Moscow, and that the next party of Armenian girls wouldn't be able to come to the UAE. We called the police in Yerevan the same day, and were told that the arrest had indeed taken place.

As a result of a joint action between Armenian and Russian law enforcement agencies in Moscow, a group of Armenians had been arrested trying to send Armenian women to the Emirates. But soon after they were brought to Armenia, the men were released. When we asked an officer of the law why, he said, “They probably paid a lot of money.”

These are the men who get the fake passports and transport Armenian women to Dubai. Dozens of Armenian prostitutes told us their names. But these men are still free today.

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Desert Nights

www.hetq.am
March 9, 2005

The Armenian network in the Dubai sex trade
The man in this picture is known as Asad. He is the boss of the Armenian pimps in Dubai.
It was 3 a.m., February 8, 2004, and another night had ended at the Premiere, a disco on the first floor of the Hyatt Regency Hotel. We were waiting in the lobby for a chance to secretly film Asad and his friends. But they never appeared. The sex-trade bosses had gone to a cafe to talk about something, but we never learned what. At 4 a.m., a security guard asked us to leave the hotel.
We had seen Asad a few times inside the disco, but we couldn't do any filming, because the security guards at the entrance checked everyone for special devices. After several days, we succeeded in planting a small video camera in the bag of one of the Armenian women, but Asad didn't come to disco that night.
Asad is well known in Dubai among Armenian pimps and Armenian prostitutes alike. At the Hyatt Regency disco, several Armenian women came up to Asad and exchanged a few words with him. If he didn't ask them to sit down, they would quickly leave. Usually, if Asad invites a girl to sit down, it means he either wants to spend the night with her himself, or introduce her to his guests.
Asad is from Syria. He probably had Armenian neighbors or friends there, because he speaks some Western Armenian. He solves problems for the Armenian women, and guarantees their safety. Only with his help can Armenian pimps bring women to Dubai in the first place. He is the link between them the UAE immigration department and police. If the Armenians have any problems, Asad is the first one to find out. He's the one the pimps call if a girl has a visa problem or gets picked up by the police.
Asad's brother Ali also works in the sex trade, “importing” women from Russia. Through Asad, some of the Russians come to be supervised by Armenian pimps. For instance, in February, Ano (Anahit) from Echmiadzin took charge of a 16-year-old girl from Siberia named Olga. According to one of Ano's Armenian girls, she paid Asad $6,000 for Olga, underage girls being more expensive.
We met Olga in a second floor apartment Ano rents for the girls (she herself lives on the third floor). The girl had multiple cuts on her arms, as if she had tried to slit her wrists, but she wouldn't talk about it. We couldn't find out how she had arrived in Dubai, either, but it's most likely she was brought here by Ali.

Doctor Tigran

We wrote about Doctor Tigran Melikyan, who takes care of the Armenian prostitutes, in a recent article. A Syrian-Armenian, Tigran went to medical school in Yerevan, and then worked at Yerevan 's Hospital No. 8 until 1999. It is possible that Tigran knew Asad back in Syria.
Although all the Armenian pimps and prostitutes in Dubai know Tigran, he has no connections, social or otherwise, with the Armenian Diaspora there. Tigran is probably the only person who can say how many Armenian prostitutes are in Dubai. He works all day long, and still doesn't have enough time to take care of all the girls.
One Armenian prostitute said that Tigran requires the girls to get an injection every month. “He says that it's against AIDS,” Diana from Hrazdan explained. She really believes that she is being inoculated against AIDS. When we told her that there was no such drug, she was amazed. “Then what are they giving us?”
On the day they get the injection, the girls don't go to work, since the doctor strictly prohibits sex.

Ali, or the punishment gang

The Armenian pimps have a special method of punishing girls who misbehave. “There is one Arab whose services are used by all the Armenian bosses. His name is Ali, and his nickname is Papa Tulip. The girls call him Ali the Tail. “He has long hair, and wears it in a pony tail,” explained Anush from Yerevan , who has been here two years. She works for Nelli, also known in Armenia as Sverdlov Street Nelli. “The boss calls Ali, he comes and takes girls to the Sahara Desert [this is probably is a nickname for a local desert], where several people rape her and beat her. Then they bring her back. When our Shushan ran away, they caught her and took her to the desert. She was in horrible shape when she came back. It took her several days to come to her senses,” said Ani, a girl who belongs to another pimp, Bad Nelli. All the Armenian prostitutes are scared of Ali.
“Once another girl was taken to the desert,” said Armine from Masis. “Afterwards, she swore that she would get revenge. The next day she went to the police, and told them that she had been raped and beaten. The police arrested Ahmed, Ali, and Omar and they went to in jail for two months.”
After they repay their debts to the pimps, some of the Armenian women start to work independently. Anush, who is 24, now works for herself and lives with a girl from Russia. She has regular clients and feels safe. One of her clients got her a working visa from Yerevan, and now she has no more problems crossing the border. Nelli, her former boss, now lives in Yerevan, though her son David and his wife Gayane are in Dubai. All the members of this family are notorious pimps. Gayane was arrested in Armenia and charged with pimping in the 1990's.

Amin

Amin is Asad's African manager. During the day he collects money from the Armenian pimps. He also has several groups of Armenian prostitutes under his direct supervision. Twice, we followed Amin near the Armenian pimp Anush's house, hoping to photograph him, but didn't succeed. Both times, he entered Anush's apartment at exactly the same time, 3 p.m. , and then left after half an hour. Each time he drove a different car.
In early February, we were told by Armenian prostitutes, three officials from Armenia 's Prosecutor General's Office were in Dubai . They had also been there the last time we visited. On their first visit, the officials had spent time at the Cyclone. But that's another story.

The Armenian Network in the Dubai Sex Trade















Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Here is a letter that I am sending around and for those of you who did not make my mailing list, consider this your copy. Also as he letter states, forward it to everyone you know.

Dear Friends,

I am writing you about a very sad subject which should concern all of us. The subject is the trafficking and exploitation of Armenian women and children to the Untied Arab Emirates.

First let me start by introducing myself.

My name is Ara Manoogian. I am an Armenian-American, from Pasadena, California, who relocated to the Armenian enclave of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh) 7 years ago and presently lives in the city of Martuni.

I have been working as a human-rights activist since 1999, under the umbrella of the Shahan Natalie Family Foundation, Inc., dealing with social and economic issues that effect our people.

Though my family history is an interesting subject in itself, I won’t get into it other than to say that what I do today is not something new to our family. My ancestors from my father’s and mother’s side have been activists in Armenian issues for over a thousand years, starting with the Bagratuni royal family (886 to 1045), who I am a descendent of and in more recent history, my grandfather Shahan Natalie, who was the mastermind behind the executions of the Turkish and Azerbaijani officials who were guilty of carrying out the Armenian genocide of 1915.

Now that you have an idea of who I am, let me tell you a little about what I have been involved in investigating for the last year and the reason I am writing you.

It was brought to my attention last year that the phenomenon of trafficking underage girls from Armenia to the United Arab Emirate was not just speculation, but a fact.

At that time, we had information that there were at least 30 girls from the age of 13 to 16-years-old and close to 500 girls and women over the age of 18 found there.

For the planning stage, a couple members of our investigative team and I, paid a 4-day visit to Dubai to learn the lay of the land and to follow leads we had to see if in fact what we were told was accurate.

At the end of our first visit, we were convinced that phenomenon existed and after a couple more extended visits, found that our initial estimate of 500 women and children was not accurate, but the figure is closer to 2,000 as of January 2005.

For the most part, the victims are tricked into going, being approached by head-hunters, looking for laborers to go aboard working on farms or offices.

A good number of the victims are divorced women, who due to unfavorable economic conditions in Armenia, their husbands had abandoned their family all together, leaving the mothers to fend for themselves and their children.

Our investigation has yielded a wealth of information, which documents that not only is this an Armenian issue, but it is an international issue, effecting women and children from all over the world, who today are found in the UAE.

We believe that we will get results from our findings. We know that what we have done up until now is just the stating point and there is much work to be done to help the victims return to Armenia and find the help they need to sustain their families with legitimate economic opportunities.

Due to the covert nature and danger of this investigation, we were unable to appeal to the Armenian community for support and for the most part finance came from my family and a couple of close friends, but now that we have secured the information we need to expose this problem, the time has come to turn to everyone to get involved.

I invite you to visit www.hetq.am and www.aramanoogian.blogspot.com and read the stories we have so far posted on this subject. Once you have done this, think about what you will do to get involved and help the Armenian women and children who are right now living in a hell far from home and don’t know what to do or who to turn to for help.

This is a chance for you to literally save their lives. I say this as of the three visits we were there, one Armenian girl was murdered. That is 3 Armenian girls that we know of in the last 12 months. The last was Gayanne.

If you are interested in getting involved, please write back to me at: ara_manoogian@yahoo.com

I also ask that you forward this letter on to everyone you know, Armenian and non-Armenian, as if we are to win this battle that is in front of us, we are going to need all the help we can get.

Sincerily yours,

Ara Manoogian
NKR Representative
Shahan Natalie Family Foundation, Inc.

JOIN NOW IN SAVING THE LIFE OF ARMENIAN HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS

Dear Friends,

I am inviting you to join our efforts in helping the Armenian women and children victims of trafficking.

Though our efforts in exposing this phenomenon are expected to have a major impact on putting an end to this problem, we know from our findings that there is a need for more work to be done in the area of bringing our women and children back to Armenia and offering them a life worth living.

For this reason, we have decided that the Shahan Natalie Family Foundation will continue to coordinate efforts to take this work forward, but in order to do this, we need your help.

Though we will need a great deal of financial support, we also need professional help to maximize the impact of or efforts and for that reason we turn to you and/or your organization.

Please decide if there is something that you can contribute to a solution and if there is, join us by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/snff/

Sincerely,

Ara Manoogian
NKR Representative
Shahan Natalie Family Foundation, Inc.

Desert Nights

www.hetq.am
[March 2, 2005]

They tricked me

We first met Suzy at the Cyclone nightclub, pretending to be two Americans. The next day, we invited her by phone to the Move-n-pick Hotel. We negotiated a price, and then told her that we were Armenians, looking for our 18-year old relative. Suzy started telling us where we could find Armenian women. Sometimes she even took us to the places herself. Of course, we always paid for her time, so that her boss (that's what prostitute call their pimps) wouldn't complain. Suzy is one of two women we've kept in touch with for a year now. We got her a new cellular number in Dubai, which she could use to call us. For months on end, we received information from Suzy and her colleague in Dubai.

To take a girl to a hotel, you usually have to pay. The price depends on the number of stars the hotel boasts. At the five-star Move-n-pick, we paid 100 dirhams (30 dollars). At the Rafee Hotel, we were once asked for 200 dirhams. There are some hotels that don't let you bring girls in, though among the nearly one thousand hotels in Dubai, those are few and far between. Suzy mainly frequents two discos—Cyclone and the Hyatt Regency. "When we're with a customer, the boss, or one of his trusted girls, calls all the time, until you say 'They've given me the money,' " she explained.

Suzy is from a small city in Armenia. She got married when she was 16. "We loved each other. He left me with two children two years ago, went to Moscow to work and didn't want to come back or help us any more, either. I went to live with my parents," she said.

Suzy's father is a mid-level employee at a government agency in Yerevan. "I wasn't financially that desperate, that wasn't why I came here. I just didn't want to be a burden on my parents - I wanted to live with my children in my own house there,” Suzy said.

“A close friend of mine said that she worked in Greece collecting fruit and made good money. She suggested going there together. She said that she'd been there a year already. I decided to go, and the two of us told my parents that we were going together. They consented. She then said that since I had visa problems, she would go there and have her acquaintances solve my visa issue, and then meet me there. She introduced me to a woman, who I then left for Moscow with, ostensibly to go to Greece from there.

“A man named Anushavan met us in Moscow. I stayed there for ten days. It was my first time in Moscow. I was alone in that room. Then they told me that the work was in Dubai - that was where I had to go. My friend called too, and said that she would meet me at the airport."

Suzy told us all this back in July 2004. They had a fake Russian passport issued for her in Moscow, which gave the 27-year old's age as 31. Her first and last names were kept the same, but her patronymic was changed to Andreyevna in the passport. "My friend really did meet me at the airport and then told me what work it was that I had to do. She told me not to worry, that everything would be fine. I didn't know what to do," said Suzy, who had little formal education and knew no foreign languages. When we met her in July, could speak no English except to mention her price. At that time, she had been in Dubai for only three months.

You could tell from the faces of some of the prostitutes that they were having a hard time doing their work. Suzy was one of them - she would always stand in a corner at the disco, thoughtful and sad. When we mentioned this the first time we met her, she blushed and said, "You have to be a certain kind of person to be able to... I can't, it embarrasses me." When we asked how much money she had made so far, she said, "Very little, they don't let me keep count. I've been working three months, but there have been days when I haven't had a single customer. I'm not allowed to keep track. Do you know what the boss would do if he saw me keeping count?" In July, Suzy's boss was a local, as the girls say. "He comes every day and checks on us. He comes between midnight and 1 a.m."

Suzy and the other Armenian girls live in an apartment building across from the Hyatt Regency Hotel. We did manage to see Suzy's boss once—he was a 35-year old African Arab called Amen—but we never managed to photograph him, not in 2004, during our first visit, nor while we were in Dubai this past winter. We did, however, see him at the disco in the Hyatt Regency a number of times in February 2005.

"All the bosses are very strict,” Suzy said. “They don't let you do anything without their consent. Even when I want to call my kids, I have to ask him for permission to call them. He stays with me and listens to what I'm saying. He is very strict.”

As a rule, Armenians prostitutes working in the disco try not to talk to each other. "One Armenian girl is not allowed to say hi to another," Suzy told us. "When we come to work, they take us to a hairdresser's to have our hair done. The bosses tell them to do our hair the way they want it."

There are ten other women working with Suzy, aged 16 to 28. "One of our girls couldn't bear it any longer, she turned herself in to the police. They sent her back to Armenia. But I'm too scared to go to the police. I can't bear the thought of being sent to Armenia like that, when everyone would know what I had been up to all this time... I would rather die. My father would kill me!" Suzy said, in despair. Nevertheless, she told her mother everything on the phone a few months ago. Her mother, she said, had no idea what to do.

"She's scared too. Sometimes I do feel like going to the police and turning myself in. I can't bear it anymore, and think that I should let whatever happens happen. There's something wrong with one of my kidneys--I go to a doctor, and give him some of the money I make. The doctor's Armenian - his name is Tigran. He takes care of all the girls and gives them injections or cleans them, if there are any problems."

And there always are problems. Sometimes, the customers do not want to use condoms; if the girls resist, they are beaten. According to Suzy, there have been a number of pregnancies. Most of Suzy's customers are Iranian. "Our bosses don't let us go with local people because it's too dangerous. For example, take what happened to one Armenian girl recently. They took her - she didn't know they were locals - to Sharjah. There were ten or fifteen men, and that one girl, just imagine. She was from Yerevan and had cleared her balance, which meant she no longer owed the boss any money. She had taken her passport and was working on her own. They tricked her, took her away, and she ended up being with fifteen men!

"The girls don't share their earnings with each other - they give everything to the boss right away. Some customers take two girls at once. If you don't want to work, they force you to - they call Ali, he takes you away, beats you, some people rape you and then bring you back. All the Armenians know Ali and are terrified of him.

"I have both physical problems - fatigue, for one - and psychological, but it's mostly psychological. I miss my kids. I miss them a lot. They always say 'Come home soon.' It's very hard, and it's a very bad job. You're forced to do it - it becomes second nature after a while. Some of the girls can't work, but they are forced to do it for only 20 or 30 dirhams. It becomes second nature - you get so used to it, that you don't feel a thing. You do things, but it means nothing to you," says Suzy, downcast.

Suzy is one of the few Armenian girls that we have met in Dubai who can unquestionably be considered a victim.

In order to prevent disease, all the Armenian prostitutes visit Dr. Tigran Melikyan, who gives them injections. He works in a clinic in Sharjah and treats everything from gynecological diseases to vertebral problems. In order to meet Dr. Melikyan, one of us had to pretend to be ill.

Tigran Melikyan knows all the Armenian bosses. He is an important part of the Armenian prostitution network, a network with a clear place in the Dubai sex trade.

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian

Desert Nights
www.hetq.am
[March 2, 2005]

I suffer there in my country, I suffer here in Dubai

“My sister is 15. I want to bring her here, because I don't have money. She is suffering there, too. She doesn't have a baby. She is more young. If she is here, it will help us,” says T. from Tanzania, weeping.

We had met her at one a.m. , in the vicinity of the mosque near the Landmark Plaza Hotel, where women from Tanzania who have come to Dubai to work as prostitutes wait for customers.

We agreed on a price with T. and M. —100 dirhams each (30 dollars) for an hour—without any haggling, and headed for the Alshiraa Hotel in a taxi. This is where dozens of Tanzanian prostitutes take their customers.

M. took me to her room. There were two beds in roughly eight square meters of space, separated by a curtain. She locked the door with a key, and started to undress. I told her that we were only going to talk. I also said that we were journalists, and that we were working on an article. We wanted to know how she happened to come to Dubai from Tanzania . When I mentioned her homeland, she laughed out loud. At that moment, someone unlocked the door from the outside. I looked at her, surprised, and asked who it was. She replied calmly that it was her girlfriend, with a client. I couldn't see behind the curtain, but I heard the voices of a man and a woman. M. said that I should forget about them, that they would leave soon - have sex and leave. I asked her if we could go somewhere else, to T.'s room, where she and my colleague Ara were talking.

Ara was sitting on the only bed in T's room, talking to the African woman. When we went in, her eyes were wet with tears.

35-year old T. said that she had never had customers like us, that nobody had ever asked about her village or her family before. There were photographs of her husband and daughter on the nightstand next to her bed. T. told us that roughly 200 Tanzanian women were working as prostitutes in Dubai . She was born in the village of Bokhova . " Tanzania is a very beautiful country," she said. She has been working as a prostitute in Dubai for five years.

When we asked her how old she was, she said, " I look more, because I have so many problems. If I didn't have problem, I'd look younger, but now I have so many problems. You know, in Tanzania, there's too much fighting. That's why my husband died. My husband, my mother, my father died. I have five sisters, I have three babies from my husband. But I don't have a job, I don't have a house, I and my sisters are suffering.

After my husband died, I stayed in my country two years. I slept in the street, and my children too. There are many people living in the street in Tanzania. Then my friend got a visa for me. But I had no money for the ticket. I got money from my friends and I got a ticket and came here. I had to give back 2,000 dollars, I gave them their money. Before, I was here two weeks, I got money and went back. Now Dubai is difficult … Police, if they catch you, they take a picture of your eyes and they make a stamp and you'll never come back. The police don't take money. I have no boss, I am alone here, I have no friend here. Every day, when I am outside the police catch me. If we come out in a taxi, the police says you are black, he [the customer] is white. Why?"

T. pays 100 dirhams a day for her hotel room. "If I get a customer, I pay 20 dirhams down. Maybe I pay 100 dirhams for each day four days, but no work. So I have to sometimes stay outside, sometimes no food, I have problems. I stand in the street. Am I looking good? No, I am not looking good, but what can I do? I never feel pleasure doing this job,” she said.

T. was the third of ten children. "Before I was 15, I didn't see any problem. I had ten sisters and brothers. Now I'm the oldest sister, because my oldest sister died, because of sickness. Now I am the oldest and must hold the family, but I have no house. At 15 years old and now I don't have a difference, because then I had only food, blouse, and school fees, but we were not sleeping good, we were not eating good, we got clothes not good. In Tanzania , school fees are 100 dollars for 3 months. My children, sister's and brother's children, are only sitting, no school fees, just sitting. I have no money for school. In my country, too many people in the street, no food, no blouses, no job," T. said, crying.

"I don't go to the disco, I don't want to sit somewhere. If I stay in, I'll get no customer. Before I stayed in and I didn't get even one customer, just sleeping. I have not easy money for my baby. I stand in the street, if he likes, he comes. There is 18, 20, 25 year-olds from Tanzania , I think, in the same situation. I miss my country. I'd like to go back, if you know…." she broke down and wept.

"You think this job is good? It is not good. I don't like even one day, but… This is not a job. I have not permanent customers. I get a customer, tomorrow another. This job is good, if I get 2000 dollars, I won't stay here. I'm feeling bad, but…I don't have a job in my country, because I don't have good school. I didn't go to school, because my mother and father were poor - no money, just to stay, to get food.

"I don't want to talk about this work, because I don't like this work. I hate it, my heart cries every time, because five years I'm supposed to be in my country, to my baby, but…I suffer there in my country, I suffer here in Dubai .

"I pray every day, if I only get 2000 dollars, I'll go back to my country, to my baby, I won't do this job, I don't like it, I hate it.

"My customers do me badly, they grab my breast. What can I do? I want money. Customer says why you don't give me a kiss, fighting. Customers don't want to take a condom, but if not, I give the money back, because I have children.

"Now is tonight, but I can't sleep. I think about everything. I pray, God, please give me money and I'll go back to my home, my family, and my children. I don't drink. But now I drink, I can't speak to anybody, so I drink.

"I pray so much, I say God help me, I get more money, I see my baby. God help me, I don't want this job, I hate… I pray to get money. I should someday, must be happy-good feeling, eating and …get school fees. But now, I don't know, now my children may be not eating, I don't know, may be not sleeping.”

T. plans to stay in Dubai for another six months. Her sister, J. who is now caring for T.'s children, needs money, and T. plans to bring J’s to Dubai to work as a prostitute as well. We took contact information for her sister, hoping to find someone who can stop her from coming to Dubai .

As we leave, T. said, “Pray for me.”

Edik Baghdasaryan, Ara Manoogian