One month into the war in Ukraine, millions of people continue to flee their homes. The United Nations is warning that criminal networks are increasingly targeting Ukrainian refugees, mainly for sexual and work-related exploitation.

In 2018, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that Ukrainian victims were identified as being trafficked to 29 countries. Over half were identified in the Russian Federation and a quarter in Poland. 

By the end of March 2022, over four million Ukrainians had left their country. "In the current situation, trafficking can happen at the border, in the reception centers and wherever the refugees try to establish themselves while the war continues," UNODC's Ilias Chatzis told CGTN at the agency's headquarters in Vienna.

According to the chief of the agency's human trafficking section, there are fears of women being abducted, forced prostitution and the sale of children. 

Ukraine has one of the largest orphan populations in the Europe, a group which is particularly vulnerable.

The trafficking of Ukrainian victims was already a well-established illicit industry. Victims have been exploited in Ukraine, as well as trafficked internationally, UNODC research shows.

The strongest tool the UN has to address human trafficking is to support countries that are affected by the refugee crisis, helping them to identify potential victims and develop short and long-term strategies to prevent this crime. 

While countries are taking measures to protect displaced people, Chatzis said he would encourage anyone taking a lift with someone they did not know to take a picture of the vehicle's license plate and send it to their friends. 

However, the challenge for authorities remains to keep account of the growing number of refugees, their whereabouts, as well as their well-being.

"Trafficking of persons is a dehumanising crime," Chatzis stressed.

"It really reduces the person to a commodity. It basically amounts to selling a person and not caring about whether the person will live, will die or will basically remain invalid for the rest of their lives," he added. "It's all about money. There's nothing else."

[This article was updated on 1/4/2022 to clarify that there is no current evidence of trafficking during the most recent phase of the conflict in Ukraine.]