UWC establishes task force to combat trafficking of Ukrainians

TORONTO - The executive board of the Ukrainian World Congress, at its meeting in Toronto on February 7, established a task force to combat the illegal trafficking of Ukrainians.

The task force will function under the auspices of the UWC Human and Civil Rights Commission and will be chaired by a representative from the World Federation

of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO), a member-organization of the UWC.

Other members of the task force include: Maria Szkambara, vice-chair, UWC Executive Board; Borys Potapenko, chair, UWC Commission on the United Nations; Iryna Kurowyckyj, WFUWO representative to the UWC; Jurij Darewych, chair, UWC Human and Civil Rights Commission; Olga Danylak, chair, UWC World Council for Social Services; and Jurij Klufas, chair, UWC Commission on Media Relations.

In April 2003 the UWC Commission on the United Nations initiated research on international activities in combating human trafficking, specifically as it pertains to Ukrainians.

Subsequently, several Ukrainian women's groups began to address the issue, and a number of publications, newspaper articles and books have been published - most prominent among them "The Natashas - The New Global Sex Trade" by the award-winning Ukrainian Canadian investigative journalist Victor Malarek.

The problem of human trafficking has become rampant and Ukrainians, female and male, adults and children, are acutely affected, the UWC noted. The aim of the task force is to coordinate Ukrainian diaspora activity in this regard and serve as a liaison with the government of Ukraine as well as with numerous international governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and groups dealing with this problem, including the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 7, 2004, No. 10, Vol. LXXII

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