Border guards block 20 human trafficking channels in 2017

Head of the State Border Guard Service Petro Tsyhykal said this on Tuesday, while presenting annual results of the work on combating trafficking in human beings, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Last year, together with the police, we stopped the activity of 20 channels of trafficking in human beings. This year, measures are already being taken to [block] eight channels of human trafficking," Tsyhykal said.

According to him, in 2017, border guards prevented the transfer abroad of 69 potential victims, mostly women, and 82 children.

"In most cases, organizers tried to send [individuals] to such countries as Russia, Turkey, China, and the UAE," he said.

He added that this year, together with employees of the National Police, the State Border Guard Service had exposed two human trafficking channels, in Chernihiv and Ternopil regions, detaining two organizers and two accomplices.

According to him, last year, the number of persons brought to account for human trafficking in relation to the number of criminal proceedings opened on the basis of documents from the State Border Guard Service is insignificant.

"Of the 36 proceedings against 42 people, the courts issued only five indictments against six persons, and only two people received real terms of imprisonment," Tsyhykal said.

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