February and March 2025 - The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), with support of the Government of Sweden, the Prosecutor`s Training Centre of Ukraine (PTCU), and Academy of Financial Monitoring delivered two two-day trainings for operatives, investigators and prosecutors of the central and regional levels to coordinate approaches to identify, detect, investigate and prosecute crimes related to Trafficking in Persons (TIP). The trainings focused on transnational organized crime elements of TIP, particularly international cooperation aspects of combating TIP in all forms of exploitation, cyber aspects, financial investigations.
The capacity-building cycle (February and March 2025) targeted 49 specialized regional prosecutors on TIP and regional investigators of the National Police of Ukraine and operatives of the Migration Police of Ukraine*. Also, it was the first time when investigators of the State Bureau of Investigations, both central and regional levels, have been trained on peculiarities of proceedings under Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (Trafficking in Persons). Criminal justice practitioners from 10 regions - Vinnytska, Lvivska, Poltavska, Rivnenska, Cherkaska Volynska, Zakarpatska, Ivano-Frankivska, Ternopilska and Khmelnytska – participated at the trainings.
The trainings aimed to cover the qualification of human trafficking under Article 149 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (incl. peculiarities of qualification when the subject is an official and military person), the specifics of proof, tracking financial traces of human trafficking, procedural guidance and public prosecution in court, international cooperation in these proceedings, peculiarities of working with victims of human trafficking, and handling of victim-witnesses cooperation and participation on criminal justice proceeding. The trainings combined imparting practical and theoretical knowledge in an effort to create the climate to learn by doing with an emphasis on a victim-centered approach and the task of avoiding re-traumatization.
In October 2024, Study Visit of the prosecutors of the Office of Prosecutor General, staff of the Coordination Centre for Support of Victims and Witnesses and National Police of Ukraine to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Participants were officials (Ukraine): Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, the Coordination Centre for Support of Victims and Witnesses, and the National Police of Ukraine. Officials (Bosnia and Herzegovina): High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Office of the Prosecutor of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, State Investigation and Protection Agency – Witness Protection Department, Judicial Police of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, NGO Medica Zenica and NGO Vive Žene Tuzla... read more
In April 2023, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine issued Order No. 103, which established a support mechanism for victims and witnesses of war crimes and other international crimes. This initiative led to the creation of the Coordination Centre for Support of Victims and Witnesses, which is responsible for providing coordinated assistance through partnerships with law enforcement agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
UN interagency project, Strengthening National and Community-Based Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Prevention and Response in Ukraine, also called UNited Action to Empower Survivors of CRSV, focuses on enhancing Ukraine's capacity to address CRSV and TIP for sexual exploitation under the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, a supplement to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime... read more
UNODC Research (2025): Study on Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants in the Context of the Displacement caused by the War in Ukraine... read more
UNODC Research (December 2022): Conflict in Ukraine: Key Evidence on Risks of Trafficking in Persons and Smuggling of Migrants, update 2022... read more
World Anti-Trafficking Day 2024 (30.07): This year's global campaign urges accelerated action to end child trafficking. Thematic 2024: "Leave No Child Behind in the Fight Against Human Trafficking".
Read our other webstories on trafficking in persons:
UNODC joins forces with Prosecutors' Offices
Protecting Ukrainian refugees and displaced people from human trafficking
