Invisible

The Invisible installation was unveiled in Mickiewicz Square in Ivano-Frankivsk on January 15, initiated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s bureau in Ukraine, Caritas charity, and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast State Administration’s department of social policy. Silhouettes of men, women, and children draw passersby’s attention to the acute issue of human trafficking.

Some figures are inscribed with succinct stories of human misery and suffering. The organizers chose the most typical cases to warn people about likely dangers and risks. Slavery is alive in the 21st century, it just appears in slightly modified forms.

Human trafficking is not exclusively women’s issue, as it is relevant to all members of society, even children, the IOM’s representative in Ukraine Olha Streltsova emphasized. The youngest victim to participate in the IOM-sponsored rehabilitation program was only 3 years old, while the oldest one was 76. Therefore, there is no age limit to this issue.

The installation consists of 120 pieces, standing for 120,000 Ukrainians who have been trafficked since 1991. According to the IOM’s Kateryna Ardanian, such high numbers have been caused by unfavorable economic situation in this country, where people are forced to look for any job and accept offers that seem dangerous or make them uneasy from the very beginning. The ignominious first place in the trafficking target country rankings, according to the IOM, belongs to Russia, with approximately 60 percent of all victims being trafficked there. Potentially dangerous destinations include Poland, the Czech Republic, and some other EU member states. Ukrainians have been illegally exploited in over 60 countries in total, Ardanian stressed. She called for continued attention to internal trafficking as well, which is relatively widespread too.

The exhibition was first shown in Kyiv on December 2 last year, as the world marked the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Ivano-Frankivsk became the first regional center to host it, and the installation will stay there until February 16. It will then travel to Lviv, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa. The organizers intend to cover up to 10 regions of Ukraine by the year-end.