Countering Human Trafficking as a Social Service: The Experience of the Poltava Region

It is important that this work become part of the social services system and be accessible to people in local communities.

An important step in this direction has been taken in the Poltava region this year: the Light of Hope Charitable Organisation began providing a social service for the prevention of human trafficking and labour exploitation under a social services contract commissioned by the Department of Social Protection of the Poltava Regional Military Administration.

During the war, people are more likely to relocate, seek new jobs and additional sources of income, and accept employment in other regions or abroad. Those who recruit people for exploitation take advantage of this.

That is why prevention must provide more than knowledge about what human trafficking is; it must offer practical safety tools: how to verify a job offer and employer, which terms should raise concern, why handing over personal documents is dangerous, how to recognise manipulation or recruitment, and where to seek help if a situation appears suspicious.

As part of the social service, this work is carried out directly in communities across the Poltava region and focuses primarily on developing safe behaviour skills and the timely recognition of risks.

This experience is also important to the Counter-Trafficking NGO Coalition because it demonstrates that human trafficking prevention can and should be a systematic service integrated into social protection, rather than a one-off activity.