Human Trafficking In the aftermath of the economic and political turmoil Ukraine faced in the 1990s, human trafficking

has emerged as a serious and extensive problem. Ukraine is a destination, transit, and source country for sex and labor trafficking, with Ukrainian women most frequently being trafficked to European and Middle Eastern countries. Women, men and children are also trafficked within Ukraine for purposes of exploitation for agricultural or service sectors, commercial sexual exploitation, and forced begging. In 2006, a survey by the International Organization for Migration found that since 1991, 117,000 Ukrainian men, women and children had been forced into exploitive situations in Europe, Russia and the Middle East. The number of people being trafficked from or through Ukraine appears to be on the rise, although exact figures dont currently exist. Trafficking in human beings has been in the Criminal Code of Ukraine since 1998 and was then revised during the full Criminal Code revision in 2001. Additional amendments to the Criminal Code concerning human trafficking went into effect in January 2006 and include a new formulation of trafficking in compliance with the U.N. Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, which Ukraine ratified in 2004.

Article 149. Trafficking in human beings or other illegal agreement on person

In the past 10 years, Ukraine has taken significant steps towards creating and implementing a more thorough attack on trafficking. Trafficking cases are investigated by the Ukrainian police department, and in 2000 Special Divisions on combating crimes of trafficking in human beings were established within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which oversees police activities. In June 2002, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted the Complex Program Concerning the Prevention of Trafficking in Humans for 2002-2005. In December 2002, a special permanent body, the Interdepartmental Coordination Council on Combating Human Trafficking, was created to coordinate activities geared toward program implementation. Government departments that are involved in program implementation have each adopted their own Action Plan to reach the Complex Program goals. For example, the Ministry of Health adopted Activities on Realization of the Complex Program Concerning Prevention of Trafficking in Humans for 20022005 in July 2002. In recent years, Ukraine has made steps in the punishment of convicted traffickers, the prosecution of labor trafficking, training judicial officers, and the carrying out of some prevention activities. Local governments working with NGOs have made progress regarding repatriation and victim assistance. In 2007, the government performed 82 criminal investigations and arrested 56 people on trafficking charges, with the number of prosecutions for labor trafficking increasing from 3 to 23 in one year. Under Article 149, there were 95 cases and 83 convictions of trafficking offenders. However, 59 of those convicted were placed on probation and were not imprisoned. As a result, in June 2007, the Prosecutor General ordered prosecutors to be more aggressive about sentencing the offenders or to appeal those cases where probation was given. By the second half of 2007, 44% of convicted traffickers received jail time. While the Ukrainian government has gained praise from the international community for enacting these recent decrees and laws, outside observers feel that some of the efforts fall short.

In their Trafficking in Ukraine Assessment, UNICEF criticized the Ukrainian governments plan for failing to include sufficiently specific steps and deadlines for combating trafficking and for focusing almost solely on sex trafficking rather than all human trafficking. The U.S. Department of State ranked Ukraine as a Tier 2 country in its 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report, indicating that Ukraine is making significant efforts to combat human trafficking, but does not yet fully comply with all of the standards given in the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act. Lack of government funding has also led to under-trained government staff with limited resources who are inadequately prepared to combat trafficking, but this problem is primarily being tackled by Ukrainian NGOs and the international community. The Ministry for Family, Youth and Sports has authorized training seminars funded and organized by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe for law enforcement officers, judges and prosecutors on topics that involve trafficking prevention and victim assistant. Over 250 regional governmental officials are participating in the seminars. The Ukrainian government continues to cooperate with other governments on enforcement of anti-trafficking laws, but its efforts to simplify procedures for mutual legal assistance is recognized as problematic, and has adopted an Action Plan on Trafficking for 2007-2010 in an attempt to address some of these issues. The Ukrainian government has also started media and educational campaigns to improve public awareness about the realities of sex trafficking. In 2007 the government spent $53,000 on a print and television campaign aimed at raising awareness of the risks of trafficking. However, sex trafficking victims are still incorrectly characterized by many Ukrainians as willing prostitutes. They are frequently denied confidentiality, there is only a weak witness protection program in place, and bias against the victims discourages many from testifying in court. Many victims have great difficulty finding financial assistance for repatriation and re-establishment in Ukrainian society. However some are able to receive temporary shelter and medical, psychological, legal and job placement assistance, usually from Ukrainian or European NGOs. While Ukraine has been very open to NGO assistance with trafficking victims services, they have yet to allocate any significant funds to assist their work with victims directly or to address combating the demand side of trafficking within Ukraine. Source: The Advocates for Human Rights http://www.stopvaw.org/ukraine