OSCE assists Ukrainian law enforcers in investigating cybercrimes and trafficking in human beings

The first group of 30 law enforcement officers from the National Police of Ukraine (the NPU) have improved their knowledge and skills in countering cybercrime during the 3-day training course organised by the OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine in Lviv from 29 to 31 May 2023.

Modern criminals actively use Internet technologies for their activities - including trafficking in human being. By using social media, data encryption, dark web, blockchain and other technologies, they can effectively and anonymously recruit, organize the movement and exploitation of victims across national borders. The digital space is also actively used to promote and sell content that depicts the sexual abuse of children. Omnipresence of mobile devices enable the exploitation of children through webcams, online chats, and other communication channels.

Addressing the participants of the training, Police Colonel Yuriy Vykhodets, the Head of the Cyberpolice Department of the National Police of Ukraine noted: "Today almost every crime within the responsibility of the NPU involves the use of digital technologies, and therefore all the knowledge and skills acquired by the participants will become an important support for the entire law enforcement system of Ukraine".

The training provided knowledge on new methods used by criminals and on developing effective countermeasures. Law enforcement officers learn about police intelligence analytics tools; open source intelligence (OSINT); data processing and analysis. This is especially important for the cases where victims are unknown or missing; these tools help the police to locate them by matching descriptions, physical characteristics, or other information against databases or existing records. Special attention was paid to the issues of identifying, recording and analysing “digital traces” that can be used as electronic evidence in court to bring perpetrators to justice. Among other topics, the participants discussed various aspects of the use of virtual assets and payment instruments by criminals, to enable tracking down and eventually blocking the work of organised crime groups. Also, digital specifics of human trafficking were reviewed in detail.

The OSCE Secretariat Extra-Budgetary Support Programme for Ukraine will conduct 9 other training sessions for the officers from the Cyberpolice and Migration Police Departments. By the end of the year, it is planned to train up to 300 police officers.

This activity is part of the Project “Strengthening Capacity of the National Police of Ukraine to Combat Trafficking in Human Beings, including Cyber-Enabled Crime”, with the financial support of the Participating States and partners, a list of which can be found here.