Countering human trafficking: what is important for everyone to remember?
Human trafficking is a global criminal business that does not bypass any country in the world. This is a modern form of slavery that grossly violates human rights.
Ukraine was one of the first countries in Europe to establish criminal liability for human trafficking in 1998. In the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the punishment for trafficking in human beings is provided for in Article 149, which defines these criminal acts as the recruitment, transfer, concealment, transfer or receipt of a person, committed for the purpose of exploitation, using deception, blackmail or the vulnerable state of the person.
There are many different types of exploitation, among which, according to law enforcement agencies, the main ones are sexual, labor, involvement in criminal activity and use in begging. At the same time, it can also manifest itself in such forms as slavery, involvement in debt bondage, use in the porn business, involvement in criminal activities, adoption or adoption for commercial purposes or use in armed conflicts, etc.
As you can see, human trafficking is carried out for the purpose of enslavement, the main forms of which are: forced labor; sexual exploitation; labor for debts; debt slavery among labor migrants; subservient domestic service; forced child labor; use of children as soldiers; sexual exploitation of children.
If the following actions have been taken against a person, know that these are signs of human trafficking:
took away a passport or other documents;
deprived of free movement and communication with relatives;
promised a well-paid job (abroad or in Ukraine), and then did not pay the promised money; threatened, beat, raped, bullied a person or exerted psychological pressure; forced to perform work that the person did not want to do;
forced to work out non-existent debts; the person's labor was used without paying in full or in part
promised wages; a
person was not able to quit his job at will; forced to work overtime, while the real working conditions
were much worse than promised; forced to beg, commit criminal activities, or used in armed conflict and other similar actions, against the will of man.
As a rule, human trafficking is not a instantaneous phenomenon and includes the following stages:
recruitment;
displacement;
transfer of a person; obtaining a person;
exploitation.
Each of these stages is accompanied by
a series of interrelated actions that make the victim of trafficking dependent on the trade and support the implementation of the entire criminal process.
Anyone, any person, regardless of gender, age, social status, education level, etc., can become a victim of human trafficking. However, in the first place, categories of persons such as unemployed people of working age; rural residents; people with low incomes; persons working abroad illegally; persons illegally traveling abroad or illegally entering and staying in the territory may fall into the risk group. of a particular country; people using the services of dating sites and applications or seeking mediation to enter into sham marriages; persons working in the entertainment sector; persons who have previously been victims of human trafficking; children, These include orphans, neglected children or deprived of parental care, etc.
What to do to people who are victims of labor exploitation?
First of all, we urge victims or people at risk to contact the 102 hotline, as well as the government's anti-trafficking hotline, preventing and combating domestic violence, gender-based violence and violence against children — 15-47.
Also help can always be obtained at the following numbers:
527 or 0-800-505-501 - National toll-free hotline for combating trafficking in human beings and counseling migrants;
0-800-500-335 or 116-123 - National hotline for prevention of domestic violence, trafficking in human beings and gender discrimination; 0-800-500-202 - “Call-center” of the National Police of Ukraine.
State Migration Service of Ukraine
