COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Anna Antonova reviewed international and national legislation on combating human trafficking and analyzed the activities of law enforcement agencies in this area. As Anna Antonova noted: “Ukrainian authorities have begun to pay more attention to the problem of human trafficking, although Ukraine still ranks first in Europe in terms of the number of victims of this shameful phenomenon. In particular, the age range of victims varies from 3 to 73 years old, the average age of 70% of these victims is from 18 to 29 years old; 65% suffered from sexual exploitation, 34% from labor exploitation. According to the IOM, our compatriots are illegally exploited in 52 countries around the world, and recently our northern neighbor Russia has become the leader among the destination countries.

The seminar also provided information on combating human trafficking in the Chernihiv region. In particular, 13 cases were opened in 2005, and 16 cases in 2006. Since the beginning of this year, 2 criminal groups have already been liquidated in the region, 7 of whose victims were people.

In her report, Maria Yasenovska, an expert from the Kharkiv Foundation “Public Alternative”, focused on the problem of sexual exploitation of women and preventive work to prevent human trafficking.

The seminar participants had the opportunity to watch a documentary film related to the seminar topic.

Tukhan Ediev