Activities in Ukraine

The project was implemented in collaboration with the NGO La Strada-Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry of Family, Youth and Sports and with the support of the Ukrainian Ministry of Interior.

Preparatory activities

With the aim of improving the normative basis regarding the protection of children against crime, the Ukrainian legislation on protection of children was analyzed. Research was also carried out on the existing referral system for providing assistance to children, on the possibilities for its improvement, and on the prospects of forming an efficient referral system for providing such assistance in Ukraine.

Hotline

The project supported the functioning of a National Hotline on trafficking, providing counselling and important information to victims and potential victims. The Hotline, first set up in 1997, in 2002 gained the status of National Toll Free Hotline.

Ten specialists were trained during five one-day trainings on:

• trafficking in children and sexual exploitation of children;
• domestic violence;
• psychological peculiarities of providing hotline counselling related to domestic violence;
• emergency psichological assistance to hotlines users;

The Hotline provided information on the following topics: children going abroad; violence against children and cruel treatment of children; reports and information on children disappeared abroad or on the return of children to Ukraine; safety rules for children; commercial sexual exploitation of children and trafficking in children. [·more·];

Round tables

The Round Tables were held with the aim of strengthenig cooperation and creating new synergies in assistance to victims of trafficking as well as in trafficking prevention.

This effort led to the organization of 26 sessions of Regional standing committees on coordinating efforts and informational exchange on prevention of human trafficking, one for each Ukrainian Oblast (administrative division), which attempted to find practical solutions to the referral system development issues, making suggestions on setting up the new comprehensive programme on prevention of trafficking in human beings.

During the Round Tables the problems of trafficking in children and commercial sexual exploitation of children were considered at the Oblast level. The interaction between government strucures, various relevant establishments, institutions and non governmental organizations were discussed and developed. Participants to the Round Tables were selected among Representatives of the Regional Authorities, the Department of Social Services of Youth, the Juvenile Police, the Departments of Education, NGOs, youth representatives and journalists. [more]

Trainings

A team of 20 trainers was trained on different issues relating to trafficking in minors and CSEC during three training sessions with the participation of international experts.

The trainers' team members conducted eight sessions on "Organization of social prevention of trafficking in children and commercial sexual exploitation", seven sessions on "Organization of social rehabilitation of children victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation", three sessions on "Organization of child rights protection for a child victim of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation", and six sessions in pilot regions held in rehabilitation centers on "Social rehabilitation of children victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation", building the capacities of more than 550 participants.

A Training manual on child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children: prevention, victim's rehabilitation and children's rights protection in Ukraine was produced and utilized during the training sessions.

Informational activities

In order to raise awareness of the problem among the public and the national authorities, a series of different activities were carried out.

The brochure Prevent and Help was produced and disseminated during the training sessions and the round tables, advertising also the free hotline number.

The booklet Measures to counteract child trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children in Ukraine (international and national legislation), targeted to specialists working in the sphere of children's rights protection, was produced and distributed.

A video spot, No! It must not happen.., with promotional material on the subjects of the hotline, traffikcing in children and CSEC was created and broadcasted on national and regional television channels and on the underground plasma videos for three months.[more]

Two press conferences were organized and dedicated to the International Child Protection Day: Trafficking in children and commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC): situation in Ukraine and ways to counteract it, held in 2005; and Every child has a right to protection, held in 2006. Specialists from the International Women's Rights Center La Strada Ukraine also gave 39 interviews on the problem.

More than 270 partners (GOs and NGOs in Ukraine and abroad) received a weekly newsletter on the problem of trafficking in persons, trafficking in children and CSEC. 72 newsletters and 8 informational bulletins were issued during the project period, highlighting the problem.

A final conference on the results of the project was held in Kiev in July 2006.