OSCE Project Co-ordinator and partners help Ukraine draft new action plan to fight human trafficking
KYIV, 8 July 2005 - Drafting a national comprehensive programme to combat human trafficking is the focus of a three-day seminar which began today in Kyiv. Co-organized by the OSCE, it brings together representatives of state authorities, including law enforcement agencies, as well as legal experts, trade unions, employers' organizations, international organizations, and local NGOs.
The current National Comprehensive Programme to Combat Human Trafficking, adopted by the Ukrainian Government in 2002, runs out at the end of this year.
"Although a lot of effort has been made by the Government and the non-governmental sector to prevent and fight human trafficking, the problem still needs to be addressed," said Alla Taran, Deputy Head of the Youth Ministry's Family Policy Department.
"So Ukraine must develop a new national action plan to continue and improve its anti-trafficking response."
The event is co-organized by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the International Women's Rights Protection Centre, La Strada-Ukraine, at the request of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
Experts from the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) will present international standards and best practices for a comprehensive human rights-based, multi-disciplinary national anti-trafficking response, sensitive to the plight of the victims.
A second event on 14 and 15 July will bring together members of the Expert Group of the National Inter-Agency Anti-Trafficking Co-ordination Council to draft the third Ukrainian national programme to combat human trafficking.
For further information, please contact:
Ministry for Youth and Sports of Ukraine, T: +380 44 279 11 68
OSCE: Cordula Wohlmuther, Senior Programme Officer, T: +380 44 238 04 06, cordula.wohlmuther@osce.org
ILO: Hlib Yasnytsky, National Project Co-ordinator (Ukraine), Prevention of Trafficking in Women Project, T/F: +380 44 537 23 34, yasnytsky@yahoo.co.uk
UNICEF: Dmytro Konyk, Communication Officer, Kyiv, T: +380 44 254 2450, dkonyk@unicef.org
La Strada-Ukraine: Lyudmila Kovalchuk, T/F: +380 44 205 37 36, 205 36 94, lastrada@ukrpack.net