Kateryna Levchenko, coordinator of La Strada Ukraine, a European-based organization focusing on the prevention of traffic in women in Central and Eastern Europe. Ms. Levchenko, a native of Kharkiv, Ukraine, is a member of the delegation (see report below) attending a USAID-funded training program in New Jersey. For more information on the issue of trafficking, click here. Photo: H.K./BRAMA

East Hanover, NJ: On Monday, July 20, 1998 the Project Harmony Training Program to Combat Trafficking of Women from Ukraine, kicked off it's first US session with a press conference here at the Ramada Inn. A delegation of over twenty representatives from various Ukrainian government ministries, non governmental organizations, and law enforcement all involved in the fight against the selling of Ukrainian women as sexual slaves to countries across the globe, gathered together under the auspices of USAID funded Project Harmony and police supervisor with the Jersey City Police Department, Walter Zalisko to speak about their respective roles in mobilizing this issue and field questions from the local Ukrainian American press about their efforts thus far. The delegates, who arrived in the US on Saturday July 18th, will spend the following 10 days meeting with various local, state and federal officials in an effort establish practical methods and professional networks badly needed in order to mete out this crisis in Ukraine.
Xenia Piaseckyj, Ukrainian Broadcasting Network (UBN)