A new information campaign has been launched by IOM in a bid to
help Ukrainians make informed decisions before leaving to work
abroad.

With nearly three million Ukrainians estimated to be working
abroad, many of whom fall prey to fraudulent intermediaries or to
traffickers, the campaign, funded by the European Commission, will
provide potential migrants with free, unbiased information on
migration.

The campaign targets people aged between 16-55 years who may be
contemplating migrating but who do not have the means to access
good quality legal advice or scrupulous employment agencies. It
will focus on regions where people have inadequate sources of
reliable information on migration, making them especially
vulnerable to fraudulent schemes. Top priority regions are
Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Lviv, Luhansk, Ternopil, and
Kirovograd.

Key to the success of the campaign will be the engagement of the
media to help educate the public on the realities of employment
abroad and the scams in operation.

The campaign seeks to build on the significant progress made by
the five IOM Centres for Migrant Advice (CMAs) first established in
September 2005. The centres, established also with the support of
the European Commission, and operated by four partner
non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and IOM in five regions,
provide reliable, confidential, and free-of-charge advice on
migration as well as  help people learn to search for
migration-related information independently and ensure their safety
when travelling abroad. The centres also cooperate with Ukrainian
government officials in building their capacity on migration
issues.

For further information, please contact:

Olena Bogdanova

IOM Kiev

Tel +380 44 568 50 15

E-mail: "mailto:obogdanova@iom.int">obogdanova@iom.int

or

Natalia Krivtsova

E-mail: "mailto:nkrivtsova@iom.int">nkrivtsova@iom.int