While very many such human trafficking victims are still stuck in Russian prisons, at least have been blackmailed or simply forced into fighting against Ukraine in Donbas or in Syria

Kyiv judges seem very uninterested in moving forward in an important trial of suspected ‘recruiters’ for fake jobs in Russia, one of the scams that may have been used to force Ukrainians to fight in Donbas or Syria.  As with most human trafficking trials it can be hard to get people to come forward, but why the court is dragging its heels is less easy to understand .  . 

While it is quite possible that some Ukrainians are engaged in crime in Russia, the 47 supposed ’Ukrainian drug traffickers’ just arrested in the Moscow region are likely to be victims of a human trafficking scam with a particularly menacing link to Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine.

In the Lviv oblast a gang of modern “slave-owners” was uncovered. The police say that such crimes are rare in the region however specialists in the area say that labour bondage is becoming widespread in Ukraine.

In the twenty years since Independence, some110 thousand Ukrainians have become victims of human trafficking and present economic difficulties are exacerbating the situation. Ukrainian men more and more often end up in labour bondage in Russia, women – in sexual bondage in Turkey.

According to the US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2011 released on Monday, the Ukrainian Government is not taking effective enough measures to fight human trafficking, sexual exploitation and forced labour

The International Women’s Human Rights Centre La Strada – Ukraine has issued a statement expressing concern and outrage over the total destruction of the system for implementing State policy on combating human trafficking

Ukraine has no law on fighting human trafficking, and the State programme aimed at countering the crime ended last year with no new one in sight

Comprehensive legislation is needed to help prevent human trafficking, protect the rights of the victims and support prosecution of these crimes

Human trafficking within Ukraine is gaining momentum with the number of cases rising all the time. Victims are most often people from rural areas

The number of Ukrainian women brought into Israel over the last 10 years was so large that dozens still need legal aid in Israel

According to the Head of the State Department for overseeing observance of labour legislation, “Eight percent of employees are effectively working as slaves at the present time”

If the plan is carried out, a single register will be kept by departments of the Ministry for the Family, Youth and Sport in regional (oblast) and Kyiv and Sevastopol city administrations

The firm offered 17 sailors work as fishermen in Europe however the men ended up in a fishing trawler near Africa where for several months they worked without pay and in inhuman conditions

Human rights specialists believe that the problems of slave labour, as well as labour and sexual exploitation of minors will become particularly acute this summer due to the economic crisis.

According to estimates, the number of victims of labour exploitation in Ukraine has fallen in recent times. However a major obstacle to preventing the problem is insufficient international cooperation in this field

Ukrainian women who were forced into prostitution in Israel more often than not don’t receive the compensation they’re owed in spite of court rulings

The project which is aimed at fighting human trafficking through social work and mobilization of communities will be run in the Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Donetsk regions, as well as in the Crimea

Taking advantage of their difficult material situation, the woman is alleged to have had them sent to Moscow and Poland where they were “sold” to be forced into begging.

An IOM study focusing on Ukraine and Belarus found that a combination of abuse or threat of abuse, non-payments, debts and restricted freedom of movement kept many men in situations of exploitation.