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Speech by Kateryna Yushchenko at Counter-Trafficking Award Ceremony

Your Majesty, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to greet Her Majesty Queen of Sweden at this ceremony.

The presence of  Queen Sylvia at the ceremony is a symbol of our countries’ dedication to the old historic traditions of Ukrainian-Swedish partnership. They were established in the time of Kyiv Rus’ and Ukrainian Cossack state, and today we are proud to continue them decently.

We highly appreciate personal contribution of Queen Sylvia and her World Childhood Foundation into rendering assistance to underage children – victims of human trafficking, as well as into implementing charitable programs in Ukraine.

This noble example once again draws the attention of Ukrainian society to the problem of contemporary slavery. I am glad to know that there are more people in Ukraine prepared to lend a helping hand to those in trouble.

I would like to thank the International Organization for Migration and its Ukrainian Office for the many years of their selfless work, owing to which many our compatriots were liberated from slavery.

I feel honored to take part in the ceremony held under the auspices of this reputed organization. We have a chance to openly appraise the effort of this organization and individuals withstanding contemporary vandalism. I am sure, their example will expand the circle of those who care.

Our victory will come when we feel with our hearts the words of the great Lesia Ukrayinka, “It could be your daughter or my sister who became a slave…”

Now it is high time to realize that, fighting slave-trade, we fight for our motherland's security, our children's well-being, human rights, and the future of our country.

Ukraine has its own traditions in protecting women’s rights. Years ago, hundreds of our female compatriots stood at the cradle of the women’s rights movement, aimed primarily at the enlightenment and changing the common perception of a woman and her civic rights. Among them were Natalia Kobrynska, Olena Pchilka, Lesia Ukrayinka, and Liudmyla Starytska.

As a wife and a mother, I am with those raising alarm. Our Ukraine 3000 Fund has found its niche in this work. We have concentrated on protecting children deprived of parents’ care and those living in orphanages. Unfortunately, these children are often caught into the trap of sexual slavery. Directors of orphanages in Ukraine, Russia, Romania, and Czech Republic admit that flesh peddlers chase after their female wards.

Due to the consolidated efforts of the Ukrainian society and our friends’ help, Ukraine will get rid of its image of a country delivering white slaves. Ukraine is becoming an effective center of the fight against modern slaveholders. I thank all those who spare no effort, devoting themselves to this fight.

However, a final victory over this phenomenon requires realizing and solving the whole complex of problems inciting Ukrainian women to take a step down the road of  humiliation and exploitation.

To stop human trafficking, it is necessary to develop economic opportunities for Ukraine’s citizens, in part, for the women. The Ukrainian women have to see prospects for obtaining high-quality education, decent job, and a chance to create a family and raise children. They have to feel that their future is interlaced with the future of their country.

To this end, it is necessary to preserve and increase the importance of the family as a basis for the development of the society, as its healthy basement in terms of economy, spirituality, and morals

I would also like to say that the risk to become a white slave will exist as long as there is demand for these slaves. We demand that the countries, which are the biggest markets of supplying of and demand for human slaves, do their best to decrease this demand and extirpate the very idea that basic human rights and freedoms can be violated in the twenty-first century

Thus, we call upon all countries to continue cooperation, both nationally and internationally, between law enforcement bodies and NGOs.

I would like to end my speech with a quotation from Ivan Franko, Ukrainian poet, writer, philosopher, and public figure, which is familiar to every Ukrainian schoolboy or schoolgirl.

“Struggle against this rock!
Don’t let neither heat nor cold stop you!
Withstand the toil, and thirst, and hunger,
As your are destined to break this rock!"

We will break the rock of slavery and vandalism together.

Thank you for your time.

September 7, 2006. Ivan Franko Theater, Kyiv