Chapter Four PREVENTION Two thirds of the objectives outlined in the Comprehensive Programme relate to prevention activities. This chapter outlines the main prevention activities conducted so far in Ukraine, assesses their impact and identifies the remaining needs. The activities of the Prevention Programme can be divided into four groups: 1. Raising awareness of trafficking in human beings This includes public awareness and information campaigns, espe- cially for high-risk groups, such as publishing materials on the subject in the press, broadcasting films, operating hotlines, and introducing special prevention courses in school curricula; international exchanges in combating trafficking; and research. 2. Improving economic opportunities and awareness of rights These activities include professional and job skills training for the unemployed, particularly young people and women; assistance with job placement for youth and women; supporting women entrepreneurs and those engaged in SMEs; setting up crisis centres; running programmes for vulnerable youth and children; and training people to be aware of their rights. 3. Supervising migration This includes monitoring the activities of businesses that act as intermediaries for job placements abroad and tour companies; ensuring the appropriateness of rest cures for young people and orphans abroad; and the work of the Border Services, specialized MIA police detachments, and passport offices in preventing trafficking. Chapter Four: Prevention In addition to these activities in the Comprehensive Programme, this chapter also discusses activities in the countries of destination. 4. Reducing risk factors Activities that provide individuals with life and job skills have been shown to have a long-lasting impact and are highly valued. These skills remain after training, even if the person does not find a job immediately upon completing the course. These activities have shown that participants become better prepared to seize opportunities in the long run and to create their own opportunities, as well as openings for others. Job creation programmes that lead to work with decent wages also provide long-term stability to participants. One example of using a comprehensive approach to dealing with the problem of trafficking by finding jobs is the combination of two programmes – the Winrock Trafficking Prevention Programme and the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme – by the Donetsk Oblast League of Business and Professional Women. 4.1. Trafficking Prevention Programmes This section provides a detailed overview of prevention programmes that are being implemented in Ukraine, analyses their effectiveness, and notes the gaps and weaknesses that remain. The last part identifies areas of prevention that have been given little attention so far. 4.1.1. Research Many studies on trafficking have been conducted by government institutions, including the Institute on Family and Youth Affairs, NGOs, such as La Strada-Ukraine, the Women’s Consortium and Winrock International, and international organizations, such IOM, OSCE, ILO, USAID, and the British Council, among others. A number of serious difficulties in conducting research in this area remain, to which this study has not been immune. The most critical source of information for research has so far been those that have been trafficked. However, it is believed that the number of women who come forward or are identified as trafficked is a very small percentage of the real number those who have been trafficked. The reasons include issues relating to the identifi- cation of trafficked persons. Since there are no reliable means of monitoring the numbers of people currently going abroad and remaining there illegally, it is difficult to even estimate the number of migrants, let alone how many of them have been trafficked. In short, realistic data on which to base research are impossible to obtain. As a result, statistics are often sporadic and happenstance, and the methods for gathering them various, so the results can rarely be compared. Research in Ukraine is often conducted in only a number of oblasts, without truly representing all of Ukraine. There have also been concerns that research is rarely followed up on, nor used strategically in order to plan how to address the problems identified before the data becomes outdated. “RAFFICKING IN UKRAINE 68 An Assessment of Current Responses More importantly, the inadequacies of research have resulted in gaps in countertrafficking programmes. For example, little attention has been paid to research on child trafficking (one exception is a recent IOM/IPEC study released in May 2004), internal trafficking, or trafficking in men, which has resulted in the lack of programmes addressing these particular issues. Another issue that has been largely ignored in the research, and identified by respondents during this study, is the demand for unprotected migrant workers in destination countries and the mechanisms for organizing exploitation in destination countries (see Chapter 1).153 4.1.2. Telephone hotlines Telephone hotlines are often the first point of contact with potential victims. Since La Strada first started operating a hotline in November 1997, more than 17,500 phone calls have been received. The majority of these calls have been in connection with employment, education and travel opportunities abroad. A relatively small percentage has concerned those seeking to return from abroad or people in Ukraine looking for missing family members abroad. La Strada introduced a national toll-free trafficking hotline in November 2002.154 In its first year of operation, 75 per cent of the 4,851 calls received were about employment opportunities abroad, 4 per cent about studying abroad, and another 2 per cent about marriage abroad. The majority of calls, however, were from Kyiv oblast. In addition to the toll-free hotline, La Strada also has a network of regional hotline operators who have been working since 2000 in Odesa, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Sevastopol, Ternopil, and Uzhhorod, since 2003 in Mykolayiv, and 2004 in Vinnytsia. These hotlines not only provide consultations, but are also clearly an important source for gathering statistics.155 The Woman to Woman network of centres also provides hotline assistance. Over 68,000 calls have come in over the course of the project – about 15 per cent specifically on trafficking. In 2003, they published a Hotline Manual for operators of trafficking crisis centres, providing information on the basic functions of telephone hotlines, how to provide psychological assistance to specific groups such as teenage girls, how to control your emotions as a consultant, FAQs and answers, and ethical standards for hotline operators. More than 200 hotlines and help lines are also provided through the YSC network, which offer consultations on employment opportunities, education and marriage abroad, alongside legal aid and psychological support. Although they receive many calls, it is unclear how 153 ‘Cooperation in Preventing Trafficking in Persons and Assisting Trafficked Persons’, an international conference, conference materials. Organized by Caritas-Ukraine under the Preventing Trafficking in Persons programme, Kyiv, 14 November 2003. Also: ‘Is Trafficking Demand-Driven?’ IOM Migration Series №15, 2003. Also: ILO rapid assessment studies of trafficking from Moldova and Ukraine, 2003 supra and ‘Research on Case Studies of Victims of Trafficking in 3 EU Member States’, a report published under the European Commission Hippocrates programme at http://www.rodedraad.nl. 154 The hotline is financially supported by OSCE/ODIHR and (Utel), a national long-distance operator, and organizational support is provided by MFCYA. 155 La Strada Hotline Information, statistics distributed at a roundtable on Hotline Promotion, 16 January 2004. Chapter Four: Prevention 69 many are actually related to trafficking issues, as data is not separated into component parts in their reports. This network is very widespread, but most of the consultants have not been trained to deal with trafficking issues. Funding restrictions also mean that these hotlines are not always available. In some regions, such as Ivano-Frankivsk oblast, there is no regional hotline dealing specifically with trafficking issues. One local NGO commented that even the national toll- free hotline is not accessible in villages in which callers cannot access numbers outside of their immediate area code. Other issues with hotlines include cutbacks in working hours because of lack of funding. The YSC hotline in Ivano-Frankivsk was cut to 6 hours a day and in L’viv, the Woman to Woman Centres had to reduce their hotline service from 24 hours to 8 hours (10:00- 18:00) due to budget cuts. Respondents feel that it is essential that 24-hour access be available for those in need. Lately, more calls have started coming in from male callers who were trafficked, who are checking on the legitimacy of job offers abroad, or who are looking for a missing person whom they suspect of being trafficked. Some of them call on behalf of family members or friends who have been trafficked. “Although our hotlines have cut their operating hours from 24 to 8 hours a day, we still receive 100-130 calls monthly from callers of all ages, mostly aged 20- 40. The issues often involve domestic violence, alcoholism and co-dependency, especially on the part of women married to alcoholics or other situations that damage the woman’s self-esteem and make her want to go abroad to escape an abusive situation.