New Jersey seminar aims to combat trafficking (08/09/98)

New Jersey seminar aims to combat trafficking

by Roma Hadzewycz

EAST HANOVER, N.J. - "Ukraine today is a supplier of slave labor - and not only for sex," according to an official of the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs.

"Ukraine has become a supplier of a living commodity," stated a consultant on human rights to Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada.

Both were addressing the issue of the international trafficking of women from Ukraine in East Hanover, N.J., at a 12-day seminar and training program whose goal was to promote and bolster anti-trafficking activities.

Organized by Project Harmony, a Vermont-based organization that has conducted cultural and professional exchanges since 1985, the seminar brought together 20 government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, legal professionals, journalists and police officials. Its intent was to facilitate their cooperation in Ukraine and encourage their involvement in international efforts to stop the illegal trade in women.

The July 18-31 program focused on three areas: law enforcement and international legal efforts to combat trafficking; public education, prevention and support networks; and creation of a public-private initiative in Ukraine to address the issue. Organized by Walter Zalisko, chief of staff to the police director of the Jersey City Police Department and former undersheriff of Monmouth County who has 23 years of experience in law enforcement, and Patricia Kotyk-Zalisko, a prosecutor for 14 years who has served as supervisor and director of child abuse, rape and sexual assault units, the program included training sessions, roundtable discussions, workshops and presentations by police, lawyers, prosecutors, public officials and social service professionals.

The program was organized in the wake of increasing attention to the problem of international trafficking of women. The issue had been broached at a July 1997 conference in Vienna of women leaders from government and the private sector in Central and Eastern Europe, and brought to the public's attention by an article in The Ukrainian Weekly on August 3, 1997. It came to the fore in November 1997 when First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke out in Lviv against this fundamental violation of human rights, calling it "nothing less than modern-day slavery" and "a crime against humanity." (See The Weekly November 23 and December 7, 1997.) The illegal trade in women was given a higher public profile in January of this year when The New York Times published a lengthy article about the problem, reporting that 400,000 women had left Ukraine in the past 10 years, to seek a better life, lured by promises of good wages in foreign lands.

Seminar participants' perspectives

Seminar participants held a press conference on the third day of their sessions, July 20, to present their perspectives on combatting the trafficking of women from Ukraine.

Mykhaylo Lebid of the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that a Ukrainian law to combat trafficking exists, but now "we are working on the means to implement that law." He was referring to the fact that on April 13 President Leonid Kuchma had signed into law a bill passed by the Verkhovna Rada on March 24 that criminalized the trafficking of human beings and provided three tiers of punishments for these crimes.

The law stipulates that persons involved in direct or indirect, open or hidden trafficking of human beings aimed at sale for sexual exploitation, use in the pornography business or in military conflicts, as well as those who adopt children for commercial purposes, will face criminal charges and that such crimes are punishable by imprisonment of three to eight years and confiscation of their property. Persons involved in the sale of children and officials who abuse their positions to this end face terms of five to 10 years' imprisonment.

Trafficking organized by criminal groups, or cases that lead to serious consequences, as well as trafficking intended for the transplantation of human organs, are subject to terms of between eight and 15 years.

Serhii Isakovych, a consultant on human rights issues to the Verkhovna Rada and a lecturer in international law at the Institute of Foreign Affairs, said, "Women have become the objects of white slavery due to difficult economic conditions, and children are being sold under the guise of adoption." Men, meanwhile, are seen as cheap labor abroad. For example, there are approximately 200,000 Ukrainians now working in the Czech republic, most of them men working construction jobs. That is why Ukraine - which "has become a supplier of a living commodity " - adopted a law that deals with trade not only in women, but in men and children, too, Mr. Isakovych explained.

Oksana Vynohradova of the Justice Ministry's Legislative Department pointed out that the government of Ukraine has developed a plan outlining what further laws are needed and that inter-agency working groups have been created to study worldwide experience in dealing with this problem with a view toward speeding up this work.

At the time President Kuchma signed the law on trafficking, Nina Karpacheva, vice-chairperson of the Parliament's Committee on Human Rights, said there are tens of thousands of Ukrainian women in white slavery in many countries throughout the world, singling out Greece, Turkey, Israel, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in particular as countries where this occurs.

At the New Jersey seminar on combatting the trafficking of women, reference was made to Yugoslavia, indeed all the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, South Africa and even Japan.

As Mr. Lebid put it, "Organized crime knows no boundaries, and Ukraine today is the supplier of slave labor - and not only for sex."

That is why international efforts are key. Vasyl Nevolya first deputy head of Interpol's national bureau in Ukraine, said, "We are looking for cooperation with other countries and structures." The international police organization, he added, "has realistic possibilities for such activity and cooperation."

Cooperation among Ukraine's own institutions and organizations also is important. Speaking on behalf of the Ministry of Family and Youth, Larysa Kolos, the head of its Department of Cultural and Educational Activities for Women, pointed to directives issued by the Cabinet of Ministers regarding cooperation on this issue between government structures and NGOs that call for improving the existing law on trafficking and new legislation; conducting an informational campaign and sociological research into the issue; assisting victims via a network of regional information centers and shelters; and searching for new methods to combat trafficking.

From the perspective of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleksiy Babenko, head of the consular section, said his ministry is very aware of the problem. He defined the Foreign Affairs Ministry's function as "defending Ukraine's citizens abroad - both legally and physically." In those countries where Ukraine does not have a diplomatic presence, he added, "we a looking to work together with other governments to represent our interests on this issue, for example, U.S. diplomatic representations."

Iryna Turlo, chief specialist at the Ministry of Education, whose responsibilities include serving as coordinator of activities related to the prevention of trafficking of women, commented: "The problem is integral to education since students of higher educational institutes are its potential victims. To that end, we try to prevent their victimization via public awareness campaigns."

As an example of such a campaign she cited the dissemination of brochures and posters provided by the International Organization for Migration and an informational letter supplied by the NGO LaStrada-Ukraine which has been distributed to students. She added that one of the focal points at the convention on human rights scheduled for Kyiv in November will be the trafficking of women. In addition, she cited numerous articles that are being published in the Ukrainian press, as well as lectures on this topic that are given on the secondary school and university levels.

Betraying a sense of frustration with how the system works, Olha Kovalchuk of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy said her ministry licenses firms that provide job placement abroad, however, she cautioned: "This does not give a stamp of approval to such agencies; it merely shows they have a license to operate ... Our goal, then, is to inform potential job applicants about what can await them abroad."

Her remarks were echoed by Gennadiy Rashkovskyy of Ukrainian State Social Services for Youth, who explained, "Our young people do not know what can await them abroad, and they have little life experience in general." He pointed to the existence of 400 sites in large cities and oblast and regional centers that have conducted seminars on this topic for the past half year.

Journalist Halyna Datsyuk, letters editor of the newspaper Nezavisimost, pointed out another tragic aspect of the trafficking problem. "When independence came, I thought we would never again see servitude. This is a very painful problem. Many people don't know what they are in for - the result of a lack of information. Parents are told 'your daughters will dance and sing for the diaspora.'"

Ms. Datsyuk, who is active also with the Spadschyna Center, said the center had recently conducted a survey to gauge the level of awareness of this issue and that it emphasizes training for women in Ukraine so they can seek professional advancement and better their lot at home.

Olena Kabashna, president of the NGO Dana, underscored that "prevention is more effective than later fighting the consequences" - a key also to the work of another NGO, LaStrada-Ukraine.

Kateryna Levchenko, LaStrada-Ukraine's national coordinator, explained that her organization gives advice to women traveling aboard: "We tell them what to look out for, how to behave, what the laws are, and what their rights are." LaStrada has established a Kyiv hotline (38-044-224-04-06) in order to help victims.

Ms. Levchenko also commented that this is difficult - and dangerous - work. Entities that who don't like what LaStrada is doing have threatened the NGO; "they've phoned and said they would torch our office," she related.

A prosecutor with the Procurator General's Office, Iryna Tarhulova, added, "Our goal today is not only to help victims and collect data, but mainly to stop the organizations that conduct this activity" - a sentiment goal mentioned also by Mr. Nevolya of Interpol who noted that "there is little information on the people responsible for such exploitation."

Though most of the seminar's sessions took place in East Hanover, N.J., at the Ramada Inn and Conference Center, there were several site visits, including the International Organization for Migration, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Consulate-General of Ukraine in New York, as well as the Global Survival Network, the Embassy of Ukraine, Interagency Council of Women and the Violence Against Women Office at the Department of Justice in Washington. In addition, participants met with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's chief of staff, Melanne Verveer.

The anti-trafficking program's objective, as stated at the outset by its organizer, Mr. Zalisko, was "to provide participants with practical skills, networking opportunities and access to U.S. and international resources," and at the farewell dinner on July 31 it was evident that the program had achieved those goals.

As noted by Ms. Turlo of the Ministry of Education, "We have been given much useful information to combat the trafficking of women. Our stay here was extraordinarily beneficial. We saw the problem that we face in Ukraine as a global problem, and we are thankful for the experience shared with us by our American colleagues. We expect that it will be successfully applied in Ukraine."

The Training Program to Combat Trafficking of Women from Ukraine was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Academy for Educational Development.

LaStrada

Program to Prevent Trafficking of Women
in Central and Eastern Europe

Kyiv hotline: 380-44-224-04-46