Kuchma signs law criminalizing trafficking of women, children (05/03/98)

Kuchma signs law criminalizing trafficking of women, children

Embassy of Ukraine

WASHINGTON - President Leonid Kuchma on April 13 signed a law on criminal charges for trafficking in human beings. The bill was passed by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada on March 24.

As stipulated by the law, persons involved in direct or indirect, open or hidden, trafficking in human beings aimed at sale for sexual exploitation, for use in the pornography business or use in military conflicts, as well as persons who adopt children for commercial purposes, will face criminal charges and will be punished by imprisonment for a period of three to eight years with confiscation of their property.

Persons involved in the sale of children and officials who abuse their positions to this end will be punished by imprisonment for a period of five to 10 years. In situations where trafficking in human beings led to serious consequences or was organized by a criminal grouping, and in cases when the trafficking was intended for the transplantation of human organs, the punishment is increased to eight-15 years.

As stated by Nina Karpacheva, vice-chairperson of the Ukrainian Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, up to 85 percent of Ukrainian women involved in prostitution abroad are forced into this business against their will. She said that tens of thousands of Ukrainian women have been turned into "white slaves" in many countries, in particular in Greece, Turkey, Israel, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.