Almost 230,000 Ukrainians become human trafficking victims since independence

Almost 230,000 Ukrainians have become human trafficking victims since 1991.

“Since 1991, nearly 230,000 Ukrainians have become human trafficking victims. In particular, unfortunately, a study of the International Organization for Migration gave us an estimate that 70,000 Ukrainians suffered from human trafficking in 2015-2017,” Acting Head of Mission at International Organization for Migration Ukraine Anh Nguyen said during a briefing at Ukrinform agency.

In turn, Deputy Social Policy Minister of Ukraine Serhiy Nizhynsky informed that the number of requests for assistance from this category of citizens increased in Ukraine.

“The Ministry of Social Policy has increased the identification of these people. In particular, in 2018, 221 citizens asked for help, up 11.6% compared to 2017 when 198 requests for help were filed. And compared to 2016, the number of requests filed to the Social Policy Ministry doubled,” said Nizhynsky.

As of today, the Ministry of Social Policy granted 867 Ukrainian citizens the status of victims of trafficking in human beings, he noted.

In particular, 454 persons became victims of labor exploitation, 221 persons - sexual exploitation, 57 persons were forced into beggary, 9 persons suffered from mixed exploitation, 10 - from organ removal, etc.

"Speaking about the countries where Ukrainian citizens suffer from this type of crime most, the Russian Federation is ranked first and followed by Poland, Turkey, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Italy and China," the deputy minister informed.

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