On March 28, an expert meeting was held at the Foreign Ministry of Armenia dedicated to the 10th anniversary since the entry into force of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human beings and the Convention on the Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse as well as the ratification by Armenia of the Council of Europe Convention against Trafficking in Human Organs.

Deputy Foreign Minister Artak Apitonyan, Deputy Minister of Justice Vigen Kocharyan, Head of the Council of Europe Office in Yerevan Natalyia Voutova, Head of HRD Staff Artyom Sedrakyan and the Chairperson of the Lanzarote Committee George Nikolaidis delivered welcoming remarks at the conference organized by the initiative of the Foreign Ministry and with the support of the Council of Europe.

In his remarks, Artak Apitonyan reiterated the readiness of the Armenian authorities to continue the fight against human trafficking and sexual violence against children in all forms and manifestations. In the context of the 70th anniversary of the Council of Europe, the Deputy Minister underscored that Armenian authorities attach great importance to the cooperation in statutory bodies of the Council of Europe, as well as in monitoring and advisory committees.

In the first part of the conference, the achievements and institutional reforms fulfilled throughout 10 years of implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. During the conference Karine Sujayan, the head of the Human Rights And Humanitarian Issues Division of the Department of International Organizations, delivered a speech. The second part of the meeting was dedicated to the discussion on the links between trafficking in human organs, sexual exploitation of children and sexual abuse. Within this context, the ratification of the Council of Europe Conventions on Protection of Children against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse (Lanzarote) and against Trafficking in Human Organs (Santiago de Compostela) was highlighted.

Evgenia Giakoumopoulou, the member of Secretariat of the CoE Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings and Gloria Fernández Arribas, Assistant Professor of International Law at the University Pablo de Olavide of Spain, arrived in Yerevan to participate in the event.