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UNCLAS STATE 112382 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM KWMN KTIP PHUM PREL SMIG UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE:  TIP ACTION GUIDE TO COMBAT TIP 
(2008-2009) 
 
REF: GONZALES-MAYHEW 10/16/2008 EMAIL 
 
¶1.  This is an action request (see para 5). 
 
¶2.  The 2008 Trafficking in Persons Report rates countries as 
Tier 2 when host governments are not meeting the minimum 
standards to combat trafficking in persons (TIP) as defined 
by the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), but are 
making significant efforts to do so.  Remaining on Tier 2, 
however, is not guaranteed; governments must continue to 
combat TIP and especially address areas that need further 
work.  All Tier 2 countries will move to Tier 1 if and when 
they evidence satisfaction of all of the minimum standards. 
Tier 2 countries are also subject to slipping to Tier 2 Watch 
List or Tier 3 if they do not continue to make significant 
efforts to meet the minimum standards from one year to the 
next. 
 
¶3.  Please keep in mind the TIP Report measures host 
government efforts.  To be useful for tier placement 
purposes, there should be a concrete role or tangible 
value-added by a host government in activities by NGOs, 
international organizations, or posts. 
 
¶4.  The following explains steps the government needs to take 
in order to fully comply with the Minimum Standards for the 
elimination of trafficking, and therefore qualify for a Tier 
1 ranking, and offers suggestions to address specific areas 
of concern highlighted in the 2008 TIP Report.  Legal 
standards are excerpted from the Trafficking Victims 
Protection Act, as amended.  Implementation Principles are 
excerpted from guidance issued in 07 State 150188 (October 
29, 2007) and are not specific to any country or region. 
Country specific points are not exhaustive, but offer steps 
and possible ways to address specific areas of concern.  The 
Department assesses government efforts each year.  All 
governments must show concrete evidence of serious and 
sustained efforts in eliminating severe forms of trafficking 
from the previous year.  Tier ranking determinations will be 
based on the government's efforts to comply with the Minimum 
Standards to Combat TIP during the April 2008 - March 2009 
reporting period. 
 
¶5.  Begin action request:  Post is requested to explain to 
the host government the areas of specific concern noted in 
the TIP Report and why the government failed to meet the 
minimum standards (and thus did not meet the requirements for 
Tier 1 placement).  Post may offer steps in para 6 to the 
host government as possible ways to address specific areas of 
concern.  While the list is not exhaustive, it should focus 
the host government on deficiencies in meeting the minimum 
standards and examples of ways to overcome them.  As every 
year, the Department will weigh the government's level of 
support and participation in reported activities, as well as 
the efficacy and sustainability of government actions, in 
light of its resources and capabilities. 
 
Begin Action Guide and internal numbering. 
 
¶1. Legal Framework: The government should criminally prohibit 
TIP and punish such acts. 
 
(A) For TIP crimes, punishment should be prescribed that is 
commensurate with that for grave crimes, such as forcible 
sexual assault. 
 
(B) For TIP crimes, punishment should be prescribed that is 
sufficiently stringent to deter and that adequately reflects 
the heinous nature of the offense. 
 
Implementation Guideline: At minimum, governments must 
criminalize and prescribe penalties for all forms of 
trafficking relevant in the country, including forced labor. 
This must include the elements of "severe forms of 
trafficking in persons" -- force, fraud, and coercion. 
Although desirable, this need not be accomplished through a 
comprehensive law, so long as relevant elements of 
trafficking, specifically including fraud/deception and 
coercion along with force, are covered by the country's laws. 
 Sanctions for sex trafficking should be on par with rape. 
The prescribed penalties for sex trafficking crimes or 
trafficking involving rape, kidnapping or death should be 
substantially similar to those for rape, taking into account 
the full range of sentences available.  Consistent with the 
UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, criminal 
penalties to meet this standard should include a maximum of 
at least four years deprivation of liberty, or a more severe 
penalty. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was in full compliance as 
reported in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained: 
 
-- The government prohibits all forms of trafficking through 
Article 149 of its Criminal Code, which prescribes penalties 
that are sufficiently stringent and commensurate with those 
prescribed for other grave crimes, such as rape. 
 
¶2. Prosecution and other Law Enforcement Efforts:  The 
government should show serious and sustained efforts to 
combat TIP by vigorously investigating and prosecuting TIP 
acts, and convicting and sentencing persons responsible for 
such acts. 
 
(A) The government must provide data regarding 
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, 
consistent with its capacity to do so, or it shall be 
presumed not to have vigorously investigated, prosecuted, 
convicted or sentenced such acts. 
 
Implementation Guideline: All governments, consistent with 
their capacity to do so, are required to submit full 
comprehensive data on trafficking enforcement actions, 
including length of sentences actually imposed on convicted 
traffickers, as evidence of their vigorous law enforcement 
efforts.  Imposed sentences should involve significant jail 
time, with a majority of cases resulting in sentences on the 
order of one year imprisonment or more, but taking into 
account the severity of an individual's involvement in 
trafficking, imposed sentences for other grave crimes, and 
the judiciary's right to hand down  punishments consistent 
with that country's laws. Convictions obtained under other 
criminal laws and statutes can be counted as trafficking if 
the government verifies that they involve trafficking 
offenses. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was fully compliant as reported 
in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- In 2006, Ukraine made progress in prosecuting and 
punishing trafficking offenses. This year, the government 
completed 82 criminal investigations and arrested 56 people 
on trafficking charges. The Interior Ministry reported that 
the number of prosecutions for labor trafficking increased 
from 3 in 2006 to 23 in 2007. Overall, the government 
prosecuted 95 cases resulting in 83 convictions of 
trafficking offenders under Article 149. Of the total number 
of persons convicted, 59 were placed on probation and not 
subjected to imprisonment. In June 2007, the Prosecutor 
General ordered prosecutors to take a more aggressive posture 
with regard to sentencing convicted trafficking offenders and 
to appeal every case in which a judge ordered probation 
rather than jail time. As a result, during the second half of 
2007, the share of convicted trafficking offenders receiving 
jail time rose to 44 percent, up from 36 percent during the 
first half of the year. The government financed regular, 
formal training seminars for Interior Ministry 
anti-trafficking officers throughout Ukraine. The Ukrainian 
Academy of Judges and the Academy of Prosecutors, with 
sponsorship from the OSCE, participated in eight seminars for 
203 judges and prosecutors from around the country on victim 
related issues and sensitivity training for 
trafficking-related cases. The government cooperates with 
other governments on anti-trafficking law enforcement efforts 
but acknowledged the need to simplify procedures for mutual 
legal assistance between Ukraine and trafficking destination 
countries. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure the country continues to fully 
comply with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Continue efforts to ensure that convicted traffickers 
serve significant jail time. 
 
-- Continue efforts to ensure that trafficking offenses are 
fully prosecuted and punished. 
 
-- Continue trafficking-specific training for prosecutors and 
judges 
 
-- Issue official guidelines for judges on how to handle TIP 
cases in full compliance with relevant international norms 
and standards 
 
¶3. Victim Protection and Assistance:  The government should 
demonstrate serious and sustained efforts to combat TIP by 
protecting TIP victims and encouraging their assistance in 
the investigation and prosecution of their traffickers. 
Protection should include: 
 
(A) provisions for legal alternatives to victims' removal to 
countries in which they would face retribution or hardship. 
 
(B) ensuring that victims are not inappropriately 
incarcerated, fined, or otherwise penalized solely for 
unlawful acts that were committed as a direct result of being 
trafficked. 
 
Implementation Guideline: Critical factors considered in 
whether a country fully satisfies this part of the minimum 
standards are: (1) Formal, systematic screening procedures 
that proactively identify victims and guide law enforcement 
and other front line responders in the process of victim 
identification.  (2) Shelter, health care, and counseling 
should be available to victims, allowing them to recount 
their trafficking experience to trained social counselors and 
law enforcement at a pace with minimal pressure.  Shelter and 
care may be provided in cooperation with NGOs, but part of 
the government's responsibility includes funding and referral 
to NGOs providing services; to the best extent possible, 
trafficking victims should not be held in immigration 
detention centers, or other detention facilities.  Factors 
also considered and strongly recommended for favorable 
placement are: (1) Victim/witness protection, rights and 
confidentiality; i.e., governments should ensure that victims 
are provided with legal and other assistance and that, 
consistent with its domestic law, proceedings are not 
prejudicial to victims' rights, dignity or psychological 
well-being; and that victims are provided information in a 
language they understand.  (2) Source and destination 
countries share responsibility in ensuring the safe, humane 
and, to the extent possible, voluntary 
repatriation/reintegration for victims.  At a minimum, 
destination countries should contact a competent governmental 
body, NGO or IO in relevant source country to ensure that 
trafficked persons who return to their country of origin are 
provided with assistance and support necessary to their 
well-being. Trafficking victims should not be subjected to 
deportations or forced returns without safeguards or other 
measures to reduce the risk of hardship, retribution, or 
re-trafficking. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was not fully compliant as 
reported in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- Law enforcement agencies referred 456 victims to NGOs for 
assistance. Through donor-sponsored programs and some 
government services, foreign and domestic victims of 
trafficking in Ukraine receive shelter, medical, 
psychological, legal, and job placement assistance. The 
Kherson regional government allocated $20,170 to 
anti-trafficking activities including support of a 
reintegration center. Ukraine does not punish victims for 
unlawful acts committed as a direct result of being 
trafficked. Courts in the Ivano-Frankivsk region are 
implementing a pilot program to develop a modern witness 
protection program. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure that the country fully 
complies with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Ukraine's protection and reintegration efforts remained 
heavily reliant on international donor funding. The 
government should increase funding for victim protection and 
assistance, especially for maintenance of shelters for 
victims. 
 
-- Develop formal, systematic procedures for government 
officials to identify potential trafficking victims among 
vulnerable populations (such as street children and women in 
prostitution) as well as among individuals who travel abroad 
from Ukraine, and individuals who were involuntarily returned 
to Ukraine, and to refer victims to service providers. 
 
-- A weak witness protection system and a bias against sex 
trafficking victims discourage many victims from testifying 
in court.  Develop policies to encourage victims to assist in 
the investigation and prosecution of traffickers. 
 
-- The government should provide foreign victims with legal 
alternatives to removal to countries in which they may face 
hardship or retribution. 
 
¶4. Prevention:  The government should demonstrate serious and 
sustained efforts to combat TIP by adopting measures to 
prevent TIP.  Measures such as: 
 
(A) steps to inform and educate the public, including 
potential victims, about the causes and consequences of TIP, 
 
(B) measures to reduce the demand for commercial sex acts and 
for participation in international sex tourism by nationals 
of the country, 
 
(C) measures to ensure that its nationals who are deployed 
abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar mission do 
not engage in or facilitate severe forms of trafficking in 
persons or exploit victims of such trafficking, 
 
(D) measures to prevent the use of forced labor or child 
labor in violation of international standards. 
 
Implementation Guideline: The government should provide/fund 
a hotline or similar mechanism that offers victims and 
potential victims assistance/information about TIP.  Per the 
new amendments to the Minimum Standards, starting with the 
April 2007- March 2008 reporting period to be covered in the 
2008 TIP Report, countries should, for example where 
applicable: (1) Reduce demand for commercial sex acts: 
Implement or support some form of visible awareness campaign 
that educates the clients of the sex trade (and potential sex 
trafficking victims) if the country has a significant sex 
trafficking problem, or a campaign that targets those who 
form the demand for victims of forced labor about the nature 
of the relevant form of TIP.  Nations with legalized 
prostitution should make additional efforts to proactively 
identify TIP victims among those in prostitution in the 
legalized sex trade. This includes the systematic and 
sensitive screening of persons in the legalized sex trade. 
(2) Address child sex tourism: Countries that have a 
significant number of nationals traveling abroad as child sex 
tourists should undertake an awareness campaign that targets 
tourists traveling to known child sex tourism destinations. 
(3) Address trafficking and exploitation committed by 
multinational peacekeepers:  Governments with more than 100 
troops on peacekeeping or other similar missions abroad 
should provide anti-TIP training for these troops (directly 
or through multilateral efforts), and should investigate and, 
if appropriate, prosecute any allegations of trafficking 
crimes or crimes of facilitating trafficking or exploiting 
trafficking victims committed by these troops abroad and 
referred to it by the UN or another competent organization. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  The government was partially compliant as 
reported in the 2008 TIP Report. 
 
Positive results that should be maintained and/or exceeded: 
 
-- The government made progress in preventing trafficking in 
persons during the reporting period. In 2007, the government 
broadcasted a public service announcement on television 
entitled "Do not look at employment abroad through 
rose-colored glasses" throughout Ukraine and ran a parallel 
billboard campaign. The national government spent 
approximately $53,465 for printing and distributing materials 
for raising awareness, and local governments made additional 
contributions to prevention activities. For the past three 
years, Ukraine's National Academy of Defense has conducted, 
jointly with IOM, anti-trafficking classes for Ukrainian 
troops being deployed for international peacekeeping duties. 
During the reporting period, the Ministry of Interior worked 
with Interpol to prevent known child sex tourism offenders 
from entering Ukraine. 
 
Recommended measures to ensure that the country continues to 
fully comply with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Implement or support some form of visible awareness 
campaign that educates the clients of the sex trade (and 
potential sex trafficking victims), and/or a campaign that 
targets those who form the demand for victims of forced labor 
(and potential victims) about the nature of forced labor. 
 
¶5. Corruption and Official Complicity:  The government should 
vigorously investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence 
public officials who participate in or facilitate TIP, and 
take all appropriate measures against officials who condone 
such trafficking. 
 
(A) This should include nationals of the country who are 
deployed abroad as part of a peacekeeping or other similar 
mission who engage in or facilitate severe forms of 
trafficking in persons or exploit victims of such trafficking. 
 
(B) The government must provide data regarding such 
investigations, prosecutions, convictions, and sentences, or 
it shall be presumed not to have vigorously investigated, 
prosecuted, convicted, or sentenced such acts. 
 
Implementation Principle: Governments, consistent with their 
capacity to do so, must provide full comprehensive data on 
actions taken against TIP related complicity.  Information on 
general government corruption does 
not satisfy this minimum standard, except in cases in which 
specific cases of complicity are not reported by the 
government or known to the USG, but where there is a 
reasonable probability of such complicity within the wider 
context of generalized corruption in that country. 
 
COMPLIANCE:  Despite widespread reports of 
trafficking-related corruption, Ukraine failed to demonstrate 
any efforts to vigorously investigate, prosecute, convict, or 
sentence government officials complicit in trafficking this 
year. 
 
Recommendations for measures to ensure that the country fully 
complies with Minimum Standards: 
 
-- Vigorously investigate and (criminally) prosecute 
trafficking-related corruption at all levels of law 
enforcement.  Share data on investigations, prosecutions, and 
convictions of complicit officials, and the lengths of 
sentences imposed on those convicted, if specific cases of 
complicity have occurred. 
 
--Consider development of actions that show political will to 
fight trafficking-related corruption such as: an anonymous 
mechanism for reporting trafficking)related corruption, 
vetting for officials combating human trafficking, and/or a 
strong public statement against trafficking-related 
corruption. 
 
End Action Guide and internal numbering. 
 
¶6.  The Department appreciates Post's continued efforts to 
address trafficking in persons issues. 
RICE