ACN launches campaign to support the Church in UkraineBohdan and Ihor, seminarians in Rome: "We Ukrainians want to be free".Caritas has reported in a press release that since the Russian invasion began in Ukraine by February 2022, "100,000 minors have been forcibly transferred to Russia for the purposes of sexual exploitation, labor, organ trafficking and forced enlistment". In addition, there has been an increase in sexual violence in the occupied areas.
Increase in trafficking during the war
During this time, Caritas Ukraine has detected that human trafficking has been on the rise, not only in Ukraine, but also in transit countries, as well as sexual abuse.
"Survivors hardly ever seek help from official institutions (social services or police). They usually turn to social organizations such as Caritas, as both the state and local authorities do not have the capacity to deal with the problem and help victims in a comprehensive way. Most social organizations focus exclusively on the field of prevention, but not on providing reintegration services to survivors," explains Carmen Gómez de Barreda, head of the campaign. Caritas with Ukraine.
For all these reasons, Caritas Spain has earmarked 214,000 euros for a program to combat human trafficking in Ukraine. According to Caritas in its press release, the aim of this program is to "prevent this scourge, identify victims among the most vulnerable population and provide them with services for their social reintegration."
Psychological and material assistance
"Caritas staff know how to identify victims of trafficking. First of all, internally displaced persons, those who were captured by the occupants, asylum seekers who have returned, labor migrants and traditionally vulnerable people, such as young people, the unemployed or people from remote rural areas, will be assisted. Once these people have been registered, an ad hoc assistance and reintegration plan will be designed," explains Carmen Gómez de Barreda.
Victims and their families will receive individualized psychological assistance, as well as material, social, medical and legal aid. This project will last for two years and is expected to assist 125 people and their families each year.
This is not the first of Caritas Spain's contributions to Ukraine, as since 2010 it has been collaborating in different projects in the country and, since the invasion began, it has contributed five million euros to meet the needs caused by the war.
