Employment centers of Chernihiv region will contribute to combating human trafficking

A training was held in Chernihiv for employees of district employment centers of Chernihiv region on the prevention and counteraction of human trafficking committed for the purpose of labor exploitation.

The main objective of the event was to increase the competence of representatives of basic employment centers of Chernihiv region on the problem of human trafficking in order to realize its relevance, apply mechanisms for preventing and averting cases of human trafficking, implement the Law of Ukraine “On Combating Human Trafficking” and the State Targeted Social Program for Combating Human Trafficking for the period until 2015, implement the National Mechanism for Interaction of Entities Implementing Measures in the Field of Combating Human Trafficking, as well as coordinate the activities of state employment centers with public organizations dealing with these issues.

The trainer of the event was Veronika Andrienko,

manager of educational programs of the International Women’s Human Rights Center “La Strada – Ukraine”

As noted during the event, Chernihiv region, unfortunately, has one of the highest unemployment rates in Ukraine. Low incomes push citizens to look for work abroad, even without knowledge of the language and legal knowledge, without qualifications, under illegal conditions, which at the same time causes them to move to risk groups. Due to legal and informational ignorance, they often fall into the hands of recruiters and become victims of labor and sexual exploitation.

According to Ms. Veronika Andrienko, in this situation, employment centers should play a particularly important role in terms of social prevention of human trafficking and information education among the unemployed and job seekers.

At the same time, the problem of large-scale and sometimes uncontrolled migration of the population from the east of the country, including to the Chernihiv region, increases the risk of people falling into a situation of human trafficking, especially children, who make up more than a third of the displaced.

That is why the organizers of the event hope that After training, employees of employment centers in Chernihiv region will be able to provide professional advice to citizens in their communities on safe and legal employment, including abroad.

The training was organized by the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights with the assistance of the Chernihiv Regional Employment Center within the framework of the project “Local Communities Against Human Trafficking” with the support of the Democracy Promotion Foundation of the US Embassy in Ukraine.