Combating Human Trafficking: what is important in wartime conditions

On July 5-28, Kiev hospitably invited participants of the training "Combating Human Trafficking in Ukraine. National mechanism of inter-agency cooperation".

The problem of human trafficking and the coordination of actions of government agencies, non-governmental organizations and related bodies and structures is extremely relevant, because it is one of the most serious crimes against human. Under martial law, when millions of women and girls as well as socially vulnerable categories of men go abroad, the issue of human trafficking becomes even more urgent and requires special attention.

For four days, representatives of law enforcement agencies, the state migration service, investigators, media, local government bodies, NGOs and IDPs organizations had been discussing how to properly organize work to combat and prevent human trafficking, where to start and what exactly should be taken into account.

On the first day of the training, the work began with the definition of the basic concepts of human trafficking and an overview of the situation in Ukraine. Forming general expectations, the majority of participants expressed their wish to delve deeper into the subject, were interested in how to integrate the acquired knowledge into their area of activity and where exactly to look for statistical data.

Trainers Veronika Andrienkova and Kateryna Borozdina from "La Strada" did not hesitate to answer and immediately wrapped participants up in the active work, holding a session on ways to get into situations of human trafficking; while working in small groups, participants independently determined its causes and consequences.

The second day of the training was devoted to myths and stereotypes on this topic. The thesis "this won’t happen to me" became debating, but during the training participants came to the conclusion that, unfortunately, situations of human trafficking are extremely common, so anyone can suffer from them.

In order not to fall prey to such situations, it is worth knowing the safety rules, which participants worked out on the third training day. Another important part of the training was work with regulations and requirements, the development of practical cases and algorithms of action.

Summing up the results, trainers recommended participants to plan their further work to combat human trafficking in their institutions in wartime conditions. Having received general manuals for working with different target groups, participants formulated and shared plans for further activities: ideas for events, projects, etc.

Inspired, participants will soon begin to implement the acquired knowledge in their own communities and organizations.

The event was held in the frames of the "Peace Building and Conflict Resolution in Ukraine – Step Forward" project, implemented with the support of the German Federal Foreign Office’s funds by IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), Funding programme zivik.