COMBATING HUMAN TRAFFICKING

The point is that our compatriots, when employed abroad, expose themselves to the risk of being sold into slavery, including sexual slavery. Also, Ukrainians abroad mostly live in inhumane conditions, and there are cases when they are either paid less than other workers, or instead of the money they earn, they are only given money for a ticket home.

The senior police officer said that women are the most likely victims of human trafficking – they are more often sold into slavery. Ukrainian women are most often sold to Turkey and Russia. This year, the department’s employees stopped the activities of two organized criminal groups that sold girls – residents of Chernihiv region – to Russia and Turkey. Also in 2007, the department’s employees documented 13 cases of human trafficking (in 2006 – 11), of which 11 were related to the sale of women into sexual slavery, 2 – to labor exploitation.

Mr. Panteleev painted a portrait of the woman who most often becomes a victim of slave traders: these are young girls and women aged 16 to 35, unemployed, or those who did not enter higher education after graduating from school, or girls – graduates of higher education who cannot find a job. Also at risk are girls who marry foreigners. Volodymyr Panteleev emphasized that those who select girls for providing sexual services abroad carefully study the applicants: girls from poor families and from families where there is no one to stand up for the girl are most suitable for them. Rural youth fall into this category.

Mr. Panteleev gave examples of human trafficking. Thus, in March of this year, the Novozavodsky District Court considered the case of citizen M., who sold Chernihiv girls to Turkey. She found people in Chernihiv who wanted to work abroad, formed a group, and in Turkey the girls were “met” by her business partner, our compatriot L. The latter arranged for the girls to work in Turkish brothels. The accused was sentenced to 5 years in prison with a 3-year probationary period. The next case is related to the sale of girls into sexual slavery in Russia. A resident of one of the villages of the Chernihiv region, citizen F., also recruited a group of girls to work in Russia. She acted together with a citizen of the Russian Federation G. and pimps, whose identities have not been established. As a result of the disclosure of this crime, a criminal case was initiated, which was considered by one of the district courts of the region. As a result, the Russian citizen was sentenced to 9 years, and his accomplice to 6 years of imprisonment. However, the defendants appealed the verdict in the appellate court regarding the terms of serving the sentences.

Volodymyr Ivanovych explained that the percentage of crimes related to human trafficking could be higher if representatives of law enforcement agencies of other countries were willing to help Ukrainian law enforcement officers. It is very difficult to find a Ukrainian girl in a brothel and help her return home.

For a long time, women – victims of human trafficking – underwent rehabilitation at the Center for Social Services for Children, Families and Youth. However, this area of ​​work is currently absent at the Center, said the chief specialist Yulia Vel’ko. “But girls and women still turn to us for help,” said Ms. Vel’ko. “And we always help them as much as we can.” Most often, women face a psychological problem. After what they have experienced, it is very difficult for girls to find their place in life. They feel that no one needs them, their relatives and friends turn away from them. The center’s specialists help victims regain self-respect and establish relationships with their relatives. In addition to interviews with the victimized girls, specialists also work with their relatives. Ms. Vel’ko says that it is very difficult to return a woman to a normal life: “They are afraid to sleep alone at night, there are cases when we have to go shopping with them so that the girls are not so scared.”

Tukhan Ediev,

the head of programs at the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights,

said that according to statistics, those women and girls who do not know the elementary rules when applying for work abroad fall into sexual slavery. First, he advises looking at the documents of the company that helps with employment. Information about the company’s activities can be clarified even at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Secondly, the visa under which a person goes to work should only be a work visa. Thirdly, in no case should you give your documents. It is imperative to make several photocopies of your passport. You must also know the phone numbers of the consulates and embassies of Ukraine in the countries where the person is going. It would be advisable to know the language of the country where you are going to work. And also – before leaving, inquire about the hotline numbers of the International Organization for Migration, which operates in every country in the world.

At the end of the meeting, its participants advised Ukrainian women to look for work in their homeland. According to statistics, the average salary earned by our compatriots abroad is 500-700 conventional units. This is not such a big amount of money to risk your own life for it, to leave children without maternal attention. Now you can earn such money in Ukraine. If only you wanted to.

Oksana Klymenko





, Chernihiv Press Club of Reforms