Assistance for Victims of Trafficking Restores Hope and Lives in Ukraine
Like many victims of trafficking, Iryna* left Ukraine looking for work to support her family. Despite having an economics degree, she was unable to find full-time employment earning and couldn’t earn more than $30 a month working part-time.
When Iryna saw a newspaper ad about high-paying seasonal construction jobs in Russia, she thought she would work there for a short period of time and return with enough funds to help her family. She met with a company representative and paid $50 to arrange for a job.
However, within several days after arriving in Russia, Iryna was taken captive: her passport was confiscated and she was forced to work seven days a week on construction sites.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Interior estimates that during the last decade approximately 400,000 people have been trafficked, many of them women and children. Ukraine is one of the countries most heavily affected by this modern day form of slavery, which includes sexual as well as labor exploitation.
After several months of working under guard without payment, unable to leave and with no days off, abruptly Iryna and her fellow captives were given bus tickets and $10 to return home.
Iryna returned back to Ukraine and contacted the Donetsk League of Business and Professional Women, an NGO supported under the framework of the USAID-funded project, “Countering Trafficking in Persons in Ukraine.” The project assists in the prevention of trafficking in persons and rehabilitation of trafficked persons back into society, primarily women and children between the ages of 12 and 25 years.
The Donetsk League of Business and Professional Women, in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) provided Iryna immediate medical and psychological care to help her recover from the physical and mental trauma she experienced during her enslavement. Eventually Iryna also received job training for office management skills.
After her rehabilitation assistance, Iryna found job and now works as a secretary and accounting assistant in a Ukrainian firm. Today she is confident about her future.
Iryna is an excellent example of how reintegration assistance helps trafficking victims rebuild their lives. Rehabilitation support not only helps the victims of trafficking, but also the families who lose mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers to trafficking. These victims are able to return to their families and become healthy and productive members of their communities.
More than 200 victims, many with stories even more horrendous than Iryna’s, have been assisted to date under the “Countering Trafficking in Persons” project funded by USAID. As part of this project, IOM supports and works in close collaboration with over 40 local and international NGOs and civil society organizations in Ukraine.
*Not her real name
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