November 12 2007

More than 1 million Ukrainians go abroad every year looking for a better life, many of whom unfortunately fall into networks of human traffic. (photo credit: Kay Chernush for US State Department)

A new ABA Rule of Law Initiative (ABA ROLI) program will focus on increasing mutual legal assistance between Ukraine and its neighbors Poland, Russia, and Turkey—the top three destination countries for Ukrainian victims of human trafficking. The program, called “Strengthening Capacities in Mutual Legal Assistance to Counter Human Trafficking in Ukraine,” is funded by the Royal Danish Embassy in Ukraine and will be jointly implemented with the International Organization for Migration.

Given the increasing number of human trafficking crimes currently being investigated and prosecuted in Ukraine, the project begins at an important time.  Ukraine has made recent efforts to counter human trafficking, but it still fails to meet a number of important benchmarks. The U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report placed Ukraine on the “Tier 2 Watch List” for its “insufficient progress in prosecuting and punishing trafficking offenses in 2006.”

But Ukraine cannot tackle this problem alone. The success of criminal investigations of human trafficking cases often depends on destination countries’ assistance in the gathering of evidence.

Ukrainian officials currently face a lack of responsiveness from their counterpart institutions abroad. This is due to several factors including: the low prioritization of trafficking crimes; the lack of administrative capacity; and the complicated, formal bureaucracy currently in place for requesting information. To face these challenges, the new ABA ROLI project will explore ways to create a better system for communicating requests for assistance between the countries.

The project will also evaluate Ukraine’s participation in Interpol and identify opportunities to use the international law enforcement agency to fill gaps in cooperation. By taking a multilateral approach to the problem of human trafficking in Ukraine, ABA ROLI’s latest program builds on successful frameworks that the organization has used to help combat trafficking in other countries including Nigeria and Ecuador.

For more information, please contact Maria Vasylieva, Ukraine Counter Human Trafficking Project Coordinator, MVasylieva@abaceeli.kiev.ua