The Cabinet of Ministers approved a State Targeted Social Program to counter human trafficking for the period up to 2030. The document outlines how the state will respond to cases of human exploitation over the next five years and places the coordination of this work under the Ministry of Social Policy, Family and Unity. The program was developed based on the Concept that the government approved in February with Order No. 184-r, and it now has the status of a full-fledged regulatory act with specific tasks, indicators, and funding sources.
Legacy of the previous program and new challenges
Before tackling the new document, the Ministry of Economy analyzed the implementation of the previous program, which was planned until 2025. It turned out that out of 21 required legal acts, 14 had been prepared, and the training indicator for specialists exceeded the target by more than three times. Social services were fully provided to victims, including legal support and placement in temporary shelters. International cooperation remained active: in 2023 and 2024 alone, more than 1,299 informational events were held.
At the same time, the reality in which the new program will operate differs significantly from the one that existed before the full‑scale invasion. According to the Council of Europe, more than five million people left Ukraine, and according to the State Border Service, 90% of them were women and children. Another seven million Ukrainians became internally displaced persons. Deputy Minister of Social Policy Iryna Postolovska noted during the discussion of the document that the scale of both external and internal migration significantly increases the risk of people falling into exploitation, so the new program had to take these circumstances into account.
Purpose of the document and trauma‑oriented approach
The purpose of the program is to improve the mechanism for preventing and combating human trafficking in the context of armed aggression by Russia and during the post‑war recovery period. It is based on the principles of equal rights for women and men, timely identification of victims, comprehensive assistance, and the inevitability of punishment for those who commit crimes related to human trafficking.
The key innovation is a trauma‑oriented approach to working with victims. This means that a person will no longer have to recount their story separately to each agency: after identification, the individual will be promptly directed to the necessary assistance, and information exchange between agencies will occur through a single information‑analytical space. Simultaneously, the program plans to expand the network of victim assistance centers and strengthen the detection of cases of labor, sexual, and other forms of exploitation.
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Technology against recruiters
The program foresees the use of artificial intelligence to analyze online job advertisements – algorithms will look for signs of fraud or hidden exploitation threats that often masquerade as ordinary vacancies. Special attention was paid to risks for women and girls in the online space, as fake job or study offers abroad are the most common recruitment methods. Another tool will be the analysis of migration data, which will allow timely identification of movement directions of people at increased risk of falling into human trafficking.
What the document covers at the level of measures
The text of the program, released for public discussion, details ways to solve the problem. Among them are systematic information campaigns and sociological studies focused on children, youth, internally displaced persons, and residents of frontline territories; integration of the human trafficking counter‑measures theme into educational programs at all levels; improvement of criteria for identifying victims, especially among children and IDPs. Particular attention was given to the economic component – promoting employment, supporting small businesses, professional training, and financial literacy as tools to reduce population vulnerability.
The program also plans the development of a digital data collection and exchange system among agencies working in this field, strengthening border control and enhancing the capacity of law‑enforcement agencies and courts to investigate relevant crimes. Harmonization of national legislation with European standards remains a cross‑cutting priority of the entire document. Regional administrations were instructed to develop their own local human trafficking counter‑measures programs within three months and to report on the implementation of the ministry’s document and regional administrations every six months.
Funding and accountability
Expenditures for implementing the program will be covered from state and local budgets, as well as from international technical assistance and other sources not prohibited by law. Specific funding amounts will be determined annually depending on budgetary capacities for the relevant period, and the volume of material‑technical and labor resources will be clarified during the development of specific tasks and measures. In preparing the document, besides executive authorities, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Program Office, the International Organization for Migration, and the Office of the UN Secretary‑General’s Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict participated.
Public comments
During the public discussion of the GS project “Coalition of NGOs for combating human trafficking” highlighted several systemic issues. The organization noted that the program project combines human trafficking with topics of sexual violence related to armed conflict, deportation, and forced population displacement, although these phenomena have different legal nature and different mechanisms of response, documentation, and victim protection. According to the coalition, separate state policies should be developed for such categories, and within the anti‑trafficking program they should be considered only as risk factors.
The second warning was that the document places too much emphasis on self‑identification of victims through electronic services and questionnaires, while international standards place the responsibility on the state for proactive victim detection. People who have experienced human trafficking often do not seek help on their own due to trauma, fear of exploiters, or mistrust of institutions. The coalition also noted that most cases recorded in Ukraine involve internal human trafficking, which does not involve border crossing, so the relevant component of the program, in their view, needs strengthening – together with work in rural and remote communities where access to assistance is limited.
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