Since 2009, when Caritas Odesa UGCC first became involved in combating human trafficking, we have identified more and more victims of this crime and provided them with comprehensive assistance, which includes case management, psychological and legal services, and material support. This is all made possible thanks to the project support from our donors, who are willing to fund our efforts to combat this crime. Last year, for the first time, our work in this field expanded to Izmail – nearly 240 km from Odesa, which allowed us to significantly extend the geography of our support and assistance.
Each year, a large part of our activities focuses on awareness-raising and education. We constantly educate students, and cadets from higher education institutions, as well as vulnerable categories, including internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the temporarily unemployed, about ways to protect themselves from this crime and recognize its signs. We also engage with social protection services, the police, the State Emergency Service, and medical personnel, educating them on identifying victims, providing initial assistance, and ensuring the further referral of potential victims. We teach them to prevent retraumatization and to use more psychologically sensitive methods of gathering necessary information from such individuals. This has led to the establishment of certain traditions: for example, every first-year cadet at the Danube Institute of the National University "Odesa Maritime Academy" is required to undergo our training. The patrol police of Izmail conduct joint street events with us every October for European Anti-Trafficking Day.
Education is essential. Preventing human trafficking situations is just as valuable as identifying a victim and providing them with qualified assistance. But at the stage of education, the person is not yet traumatized, and we can and must make every effort to ensure that they encounter the horrors of modern human trafficking only in the training room and not in their own life.
