The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine is turning into a human trafficking crisis: the UN ambassador
Humanitarian crisis Ukraine is facing a human trafficking crisis, warned Pramila PattenUN Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict on Monday.
Patten said the increased risks of human trafficking since the beginning of the conflict, including for the purpose of sexual exploitation and prostitution, have been alarmingly evident.
The lack of a coherent review of housing offers and transportation arrangements is a serious concern, as is the limited capacity of protection services to address the speed and volume of the transition, he said at a UN Security Council meeting on conflict-related sexual violence and trafficking. In the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
He added that the diversity of volunteers, limited screening and little or no training or experience is also a concern.
During a visit to the Ukrainian refugee reception center in Przemysl, Poland, which was converted into a Tesco supermarket, he discovered “serious safety and security concerns” in a facility run by volunteers, where UN agencies were only “barefoot.”
The site’s humanitarian staff presented credible anecdotal accounts of human trafficking attempts, Patten said. At the minimum security check, the man volunteered at the Tesco Center in the afternoon and went to a “French room” where the refugees were waiting to be transported to France. At the time, he contacted a 19-year-old woman who he later woke up in a dormitory at 2 a.m., offering a ride to France, he said.
Another man, wearing a yellow volunteer vest and standing with a sign in the hall of Przemysl railway station, offered free transportation from Poland to Germany. Other volunteers suspected and reported to local law enforcement when they noticed the man selected only young women to be transported in his minivan, he said.
Mr Patten called for a coherent and coordinated response at the level of the EU institutions in order to strengthen the overall response.
“This is extremely urgent because I believe this humanitarian crisis is turning into a human trafficking crisis,” he said. “This requires a joint, integrated and comprehensive cross-border response from humanitarian partners, law enforcement agencies, border forces, immigration authorities and political leaders. A regional agreement is urgently needed.”
He said that to meet this challenge, it is important to ensure that the level of political focus and the allocation of resources for a comprehensive response are proportionate to the scale and complexity of the problem.
Source: ANI / Xinhua