Recommendations for Catholic NGOs on Counteracting Human Trafficking

In the ongoing context of the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, people are often forced to leave their homes with little or no preparation and travel along dangerous paths in search of safe haven. While undertaking challenging journeys or upon reaching a destination, migrants from Ukraine can be exposed to trafficking and exploitation.

In order to prevent properly the risks of human trafficking and to assist the presumed victims the Catholic Organizations operating at the border are warmly invited to consider the following recommendations:

Prevention of trafficking and immediate assistance:

1. Disseminate the information as broadly as possible, both on and offline, taking into account the means for people seeking refuge to access the information. Collocate banners and posters at the crossings and distribute the leaflets, advising displaced people to:

• Always keep your passport with you, showing it only when border guards ask you to do so at the border;

• When you need help, seek out volunteers that carry a badge from their organisation;

• Be suspicious of anyone offering help and do not get into the cars of people you do not know alone. If you must, take a photo of the licence plate and share it with someone you trust;

• Accept hospitality and job offers only through well-known volunteer organisations or trusted sources. Pay particular attention to the advertisements and job offers online, beware of particularly attractive ones;

• Always keep your phone battery charged and send your location to people you trust;

• In case of suspicious activities, inform the border guards, humanitarian aid workers, or volunteers;

2. Check every offer: verify the identity of the individuals and organizations that offer transport, shelter and other services: ask them for a copy of their documents and car plates;

3. Inform migrants of the risks of human trafficking, including “too good to be true” transportation, housing and job offers along migration routes as well as in the vicinity of the reception facilities and online;

4. Together with the law enforcement authorities to strengthen child protection screenings at the border points, especially those with Ukraine, to better identify at-risk children;

5. Improve cross-border collaboration and data exchange between NGOs, border control, law enforcement and child protection authorities in order to quickly identify and protect separated and unaccompanied children;

6. Encourage and facilitate authorities to implement family tracing and reunification procedures for children, deprived of parental care;

7. Implement additional risk screening in reception centres, shelters, train stations, and other locations where migrants are gathering or passing through;

8. Encourage and help national and international law enforcement to monitor the movement of unaccompanied and separated minors and particularly vulnerable women;

9. Report the cases of presumed recruitment for trafficking and exploitation to authorities, collaborate in the identification of offerers and actively mitigate the risks facing vulnerable groups;

10. Strive for the awareness-raising activities among which:

• Leaflets and posters in various languages, with attractive and easily understandable text and pictures. Phone numbers and addresses of Police, Social Services, Shelters, Hospitals, and Humanitarian organizations should be included;

• Shopping bags with the same warnings, to be distributed with relief supplies;

• Radio messages in local languages both on FM in local stations and in short waves for BBC, CNN, Deutsche Welle, RFI, etc;

• Social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, etc should be used to disseminate the same messages and, if possible, to look for potential victims or traffickers;

• Internet providers could be approached to check for abuse of websites to lure victims;

• Priests and religious congregations should participate in this awareness-raising and prevention campaign. They should receive and disseminate leaflets, posters and shopping bags among their communities and parishioners;

• Artists could promote the warning messages on radio, TV, newspapers, theatres, and concerts.

Mid-term assistance:

11. Provide information on opportunities across communities and countries to enable people seeking refuge to make well-informed decisions on their travel or stay as well as to respond to the needs of the host communities;

12. Exchange and provide information to communities and individuals who temporarily host migrants on available assistance and housing opportunities;

13. Endorse law enforcement in monitoring information platforms (both online and printed) for misleading or deceptive information on housing and employment opportunities to prevent trafficking and fraud;

14. Ensure when possible psychological support by engaging with qualified psychologists, educators and other service providers among migrants themselves and leveraging their professional competency and language skills;

15. Establish contacts and regular exchange with structured Ukrainian communities (parishes, associations, schools, etc) in countries of transit or destination to align assistance and support efforts and leverage their language and other skills;

16. Distribute information about reception facilities at the Ukrainian border, within and across countries to avoid overburdening assistance and support systems, which can create additional vulnerabilities;

17. Mindful that the majority of Ukrainian migrants are women, boys and girls, monitor locations known for high risks of human trafficking, including those related to the provision of sexual services—including online—street begging and informal sectors of the economy;

18. Inform migrants about the anti-trafficking hotlines, including in Ukrainian, and broadly publicise the hotline numbers through means accessible to them, encouraging them to contact the hotline in case of possible questions or suspicions.*

Long-term assistance and integration:

19. Facilitate the establishment of clear procedures for the request of humanitarian protection - both temporary (EU) and international HP - and rapid exchange of information on people seeking refuge registered in the transit and destination countries and their place of residence in order to prevent people, especially children, from going missing and reduce their vulnerability to trafficking;

20. Facilitate the provision of language courses for adults and children seeking refuge in destination countries;

21. Endorse the establishment of the procedures to validate the professional competency of migrants based on the diplomas and certificates issued by Ukrainian educational institutions;

22. Provide training opportunities for migrants to prepare them for the local labour market, taking into consideration their education and work experience, to benefit from their skills and knowledge;

23. Support employment and integration of people seeking refuge in the formal labour market:

• provide guidance on the employment procedures, benefits and other obligatory clauses translated into Ukrainian;

• hiring Ukrainian-speaking people to assist employment centres for providing consultations to migrants;

• identify businesses looking for employees and promote a verified list of employers for Ukrainians seeking employment.

24. Promote inclusive and accessible schooling and pre-school care for children in destination countries to facilitate their access to education and allow their parents and guardians to engage in sustainable employment.