Counter Trafficking in Persons (CTIP) Assessment for USAID/Ukraine

The assessment aimed to document the current CTIP operating environment in Ukraine and identify key trends, challenges, and opportunities for future programming. The assessment methodology involved a desk review of relevant documents, key informant interviews, observation of a CTIP NGO Coalition meeting, and attendance at the annual IOM CTIP Awards Ceremony. The assessment highlighted several key findings, including the establishment of an overarching legislative framework for CTIP efforts in Ukraine. The Law of Ukraine on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, adopted in September 2011, lays out the basis for the National Referral Mechanism (NRM), which is a mechanism of cooperation between State Agencies and Departments at the central and local levels, and civil society to provide assistance to Victims of Trafficking (VoTs). The State Program on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings for the Period Until 2015, adopted in March 2012, outlines specific activities to protect VoTs, prevent trafficking, and prosecute traffickers. New trends in CTIP have been identified, including increased trafficking of men and labor trafficking. It is also probable that far more children and youth are being trafficked than are typically identified. Changes in how victims are recruited and in the conditions of their exploitation are posing challenges in victim identification and for law enforcement seeking to prosecute traffickers. The assessment also highlighted the importance of cooperation between the Government of Ukraine (GoU) and civil society on CTIP issues. The GoU is cooperating with NGOs at both the local and national level, but this cooperation is inconsistent in the regions and is more developed in some oblasts compared to others. The USAID-supported NGO CTIP Coalition is in the process of signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP), a positive development. The assessment emphasized the need for a gender-sensitive approach in CTIP programming, with considerable attention being paid to the needs of VoTs of both sexes. The future CTIP program should continue to monitor the sex composition of the VoT caseload to ensure that available services are a good match for the needs of VoTs. The National Referral Mechanism (NRM) rollout is in the beginning stages, with initial pilot testing supported by OSCE and IOM. Results of these pilots were examined for lessons learned, and a standard model for NRM implementation was derived. IOM and OSCE are now cooperating in rolling out and monitoring the standard model in five oblasts, including the oblasts that served as pilots. However, numerous issues still need to be worked out before sustainable functioning of the NRM can be assured, including variations in the structures of local governments, weak provisions related to child VoTs, and unclear roles for NGOs in a fully functioning NRM. The assessment also highlighted the importance of economic empowerment for VoTs, with nearly all informants agreeing that it is very important to provide economic opportunities for VoTs and that doing so successfully is a major contribution to their successful reintegration and the concomitant decrease in the likelihood that they will be re-trafficked. The IOM entrepreneurship program appears to employ a strong model that has been honed over time to select the VoTs who are most likely to succeed as entrepreneurs in market niches that are compatible with sustainable business operations. Integration of small CTIP activities across the Mission's portfolio is also an opportunity for USAID/Ukraine, especially in conjunction with the civil society program, the media program, the LEP program, AgroInvest, and the current entrepreneurship program. Fighting trafficking in persons is an area that is ripe for technological innovation, although support for some of these activities may be too expensive to support under the Mission's upcoming programming.