3 April 2014

The newly appointed Head of the Counter-Trafficking Department of the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, Mr. Mykhailo Andrienko, met with the IOM Ukraine Chief of Mission, Mr. Manfred Profazi, and Mission staff. Both parties expressed their willingness to continue long-term cooperation in fighting modern-day slavery: assisting victims of trafficking and prosecuting criminals.

Mr. Profazi touched upon the challenges of current situation in and around Crimea in terms of migration, as in critical circumstances displaced persons and other vulnerable people are more eager to accept risky job offers and as a result might suffer from labour, sexual and other forms of exploitation.

Mr. Andrienko stressed the relevance and importance of IOM’s assistance to the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine, in particular in training staff and establishing international cooperation with the countries of destination, transit and origin of victims of trafficking.

The MOI-IOM Memorandum of Understanding was signed in 2005 and remains in force. Since then, IOM has been cooperating with Ukrainian law enforcement in capacity building on investigation and prosecution of trafficking-related crimes, on networking with other countries, resource management, provision of equipment, and the improvement of the witness protection system.