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How do the state and NGOs of Chernihiv region counteract modern slavery? And how effectively are they doing this? Because 17 people were granted the status of victims of human trafficking in Chernihiv region for the period of two years.

These and other issues were discussed on March 29 during a press conference summing up the implementation of the project on introducting the National mechanism of interaction between the entities that perform anti-trafficking in Chernihiv region.

The press conference was attended by Deputy Director of the Department of family, youth and sports of Chernihiv regional state administration Svitlana Skyba, Deputy Head of the Department of fight against the crimes connected with human trafficking, General Directorate of National Police in Chernihiv region Volodymyr Oliynyk, Head of Chernihiv public committee for human rights protection Natalia Piddubna.

The press conference was attended by Deputy Director of the Department of family, youth and sports of Chernihiv regional state administration Svitlana Skyba, Deputy Head of the Department of fight against crimes connected with human trafficking, General Directorate of National Police in Chernihiv region Volodymyr Oliynyk, Head of Chernihiv public committee for human rights protection Natalia Piddubna.

The Department of family, youth and sports of Chernihiv RSA coordinated regional activities in the framework of the project "Introduction of mechanism of interaction of entities carrying out activities on combating human trafficking in Chernihiv region", contributed to technical maintenance of information actions, provided organizational support. The direct executor of the project was Chernihiv public committee for human rights protection.

To coordinate the efforts of the entities of the National mechanism of interaction the project team organized and conducted 7 round tables in the region, which were attended by 140 residents of Chernihiv region. During the period of project implementation in total 25 trainings and workshops, reaching more than 700 officials of various structures, were conducted.

Since last March there was a communication campaign under the slogan "Each victim has the right to help!" The population of the region was informed about the possibility of obtaining assistance in the event of falling into a situation of human trafficking. Broadcast radio programmes on human trafficking, regarding the status of the victim of human trafficking and information about the risks and dangers that residents of the region could face was disseminated. Informing the population about possibilities of obtaining assistance in the event of falling into a situation of human trafficking occurred during the implementation of the project through the placement of articles in local media, on the website of the regional state administration, Department of family, youth and sports, libraries, employment centers, through the dissemination of posters, brochures about the possibility of obtaining aid by the victims, an information and methodical instruction was published for specialists.

During project implementation assistance was provided to victims of human trafficking who received the relevant status. The number of persons who received the status in Chernihiv region comes to 9 persons for 2013 and 2014; 6 persons – in 2015; 2 persons - in 3 months of 2016; the number of failures is 0.17 people in the Chernihiv region received the status of victims of human trafficking for 2014 – 2016. This is one of the biggest figures in Ukraine. Chernihiv region ranks 2nd in the number of the granted status after Zakarpattya.

Rentegration aid from Chernihiv public committee for human rights protection, International Organization for Migration and other international organizations was provided to 7 persons for the period 2014-2015, and 5 persons applied for assistance in 2016.

Until now in Ukraine and Chernihiv region, in particular, assistance to persons who suffered from human trafficking was provided primarily by NGOs and international organizations. However, since the autumn of 2012 in the state, according to the new legislation, the National mechanism for interaction of anti-trafficking entities was launched. The European Union, USIAD and IOM help effectively implement it in some regions of Ukraine. For the period of 2012-2015 the official status of victims of modern slavery have been provided to 164 persons that allowed them to obtain assistance from the Ukrainian government bodies.

Reference

The project to improve the coordination between state institutions and NGOs in Chernihiv region was funded by the European Union and USAID and implemented by IOM and Chernihiv public committee for human rights protection in partnership with the Department of family, youth and sports of Chernihiv RSA from October 2014 to March 2016. Ukraine remains a country of supply, transit and gradually becoming a destination country for human trafficking. According to IOM in Ukraine, since 1991, more than 120 thousand Ukrainians have suffered from various forms of modern slavery. New trends in this dangerous phenomenon is the increasing incidence of human trafficking for purposes of labor exploitation, the growth in the number of affected males, growth of cases of exploitation of Ukrainians and foreigners on the territory of Ukraine, expanding the risk of falling into a situation of human trafficking through armed conflict in the East of the country and mass internal migration. The European Union and USAID support Ukraine on the path of creating a comprehensive and modern system of assistance to victims of human trafficking that would meet the best European standards. The activity contributes to the implementation in the regions of Ukraine of the National mechanism of interaction for assistance to victims of human trafficking that includes bringing together state and non-governmental actors to identify victims, assist to them, protect their rights and ensure access to justice.