Experts: Ukrainian Social Policy Ministry poorly rehabilitates victims of human trafficking

Ukrainian Social Policy Ministry poorly fulfills the national action plan on aid to victims of human trafficking.

This is stated in the results of monitoring of implementation of the Action Plan of the National Human Rights Strategy, the Human Rights Information Centre correspondent reports.

According to the Social Policy Ministry of Ukraine, 181 persons were granted the status of a victim of human trafficking during the reporting period: 175 citizens of Ukraine and six foreigners (citizens of Pakistan, Moldova and the Russian Federation). 76 men, 79 women, 8 boys and 18 girls were among the victims. 37 internal cases and 144 international (cross-border) cases were recorded.

The Social Policy Ministry provides information about the current system of providing assistance and services for persons affected by trafficking in Vinnytsia, Kharkiv, Kherson regions. In particular, the assistance was provided through the system of social service centers for families, children and youth.

However, the experts of monitoring of fulfillment of the Action Plan doubt the systematic work in this direction, in particular with respect to rehabilitation of victims. Thus, such rehabilitation is provided by network of centers of social services for families, children and youth in some regions. Other regions provided it through non-governmental organizations and/or medical facilities.

“So it’s difficult to draw a conclusion about the effectiveness of rehabilitation system and other types of assistance to victims of crimes related to human trafficking,” the report says.

In addition, the analysis of human trafficking situation in Ukraine shows new trends in this area – an increase in cases of labor exploitation versus sexual exploitation, in particular, the increased cases of use of children in begging, domestic trade, trafficking in children.

As a reminder, the National Strategy is the so-called road map, which shows what the government should do to improve the human rights situation. The fulfillment of the Strategy’s action plan by the state is being monitored by the public platform with participation of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) and the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. Monitoring is carried out through the analysis of information from governmental open sources, alternative reports, responses to information requests, etc.