21.08.2018, Kiev.
The number of cases of human trafficking in Ukraine in 2018 increased by 29 per cent, informed Artem Krischenko, the head of the department for combating crimes related to human trafficking, TASS reports citing the Ukrainian National Police press service on July 21.
“During the first half of 2018 the police has identified 186 crimes related to human trafficking”, said Krischenko. For the same period of 2017, 144 such crimes were committed. Besides, Krischenko noted a substantial growth in crimes linked to procuring. In 2017 approximately 200 such cases were noted and in 2018 this number has increased by 75 per cent and amounts to 365 offences.
“The greatest number of crimes related to procuring and pandering was identified in Kiev and the regions of Kharkov, Dnepropetrovsk, Odessa. In particular, in Odessa, the police exposed a foreigner who was an organizer of an international human trafficking route. Law enforcement officers detained the felon in Kiev airport when he was trying to smuggle Ukrainian girls to Spain for further sexual exploitation”, Krischenko informed.
An incidence of human trafficking in Ukraine began in 2014 following the Maidan. In August of 2016, Madina Jarbussynova, the OSCE Coordinator for Combating Human Trafficking, noted that the number of human trafficking victims within the country (according to the definition of the Ministry for Social Policy) has increased in two years. In 2017 the Ukrainian national police specialists stated that criminals apply more often the forms of human trafficking that do not imply sexual exploitation while turning to “labour” exploitation.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
