Ukraine doing too little to fight human trafficking

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 Government of Ukraine does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. During the reporting period, a higher proportion of trafficking offenders were sentenced to time in prison compared with last year and prosecutors continued appealing low sentences given to trafficking offenders. The government
also increased the number of victims identified and referred to NGOs for assistance. However, the government did not take sufficient steps to investigate, prosecute, and convict government officials complicit in human trafficking crimes and did not develop and implement a national victim
referral mechanism.

…. It remains unclear, following the government’s re-organization in 2010, which agency has the primary
responsibility for anti-trafficking efforts, and whether that entity will receive sufficient resources and political support to carry out trafficking prevention. The Government of Ukraine’s National Plan on Combating Human Trafficking expired in mid-2010. Together with IOM, the government
implemented a pilot program in 2010 to prevent child sex tourism, which included the distribution of anti-trafficking posters and information cards.”

The report can be downloaded here