Human Trafficking Rates Intensify in Ukraine Since Start of Donbass Conflict

OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Madina Jarbussynova said that Ukraine was witnessing an increased number of traffickers and their victims, as criminals try to sell people not only in Ukraine, but abroad, as well.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The number of cases of human trafficking in Ukraine have increased since the beginning of the conflict in the southeastern Donbass region in 2014, OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings Madina Jarbussynova said on Friday.

She told a press briefing that Ukraine was witnessing an increased number of traffickers and their victims, as criminals try to sell people not only in Ukraine, but abroad, as well.

Jarbussynova added that such information was being received from both non-governmental organizations, and the state structures.

Ukraine's southeast has been engulfed in a conflict since April, 2014, when Kiev launched a military operation to suppress local militia. The OSCE mission was deployed in eastern Ukraine to monitor the region, as both Kiev and the local militias have accused each other of violating the Minsk ceasefire deal, signed in February 2015.