War & Trafficking: Lessons from Ukraine

October 18 was the European Union's Anti-Trafficking Day dedicated to raise awareness annually on trafficking in human beings in Europe. In commemoration of this day I attended an online panel discussion on the War & Trafficking: Lessons from Ukraine. The panel focused on human trafficking as a result of the war in Ukraine and how those lessons can transfer to other countries and future wars/conflicts. There was a definite emphasis on child trafficking and what experts had seen around Europe with vulnerabilities for human trafficking. The panelists believed Ukraine was a critical case study for how war has influenced trafficking dynamics as the largest war in Europe since WWII. Resiliency was a topic of discussion as Ukrainians are often referred to as such but many panelists said instead of just admiring Ukrainians saying they are resilient people should actually support Ukraine. This was an interesting take and so trued especially as support seems to be dwindling around Europe and people in the US often ask is that war still happening? Post war recovery was also discussed and vital topic. One panelist said this war has to end someday and discussed how the world needs to prepare to no only support Ukraine's rebuilding but also be mindful about hos post-war environments can be ripe for exploitation. 

Here is a list of the panelists and then I pasted in a screen shot of the talk below. It is always interesting to learn from Ukrainian experts about their experience combatting human trafficking during this war.

-Aleksandra Chołuj, Head of Unit for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, Hate Crimes and Supporting Actions in the Area of EU Internal Security Policy, Department of Public Order, Poland

-Iryna Horban, Head of Anti-Trafficking Unit, Prosecutor General Office of Ukraine

-Tetiana Rudenko, Senior Project Officer, Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings

-Julia Sachenko, Libera, Ukraine; anti-trafficking researcher and practitioner

-Dr. Jennifer Schuetze-Reymann, LL.M., Special Advisor on the Children of Ukraine, Children’s Rights Division, Directorate General of Democracy and Human Dignity, Council of Europe

Moderated by Ambassador John Cotton Richmond, President of the Libertas Council