According to domestic and foreign law enforcement officials, a significant portion of Internet child pornography continued to originate from the country.” State Department, the most recent available, finds that “commercial sexual exploitation of children remained a serious problem. Internationally, Ukraine has been known for many years as a leading source of child pornography. Other documented incidents suggest that pedophilia is taking a huge toll on countless numbers of the nation’s children – and, consequently, on the future of Ukraine itself. But it went nowhere in parliament, Velychko said. In 2005, non-governmental organizations drafted a national plan based on the United Nations Convention for Children’s Rights. “When we tried to increase criminal punishment for children to a minimum of seven years incarceration, we simply could not push through this draft law,” Velychko said. Victoria Velychko, head of the All-Ukrainian Public Organization for Equal Rights, said the nation’s laws were among the weakest when it came to punishing sexual violence against children. Politicians at the highest levels have failed to adopt tough laws that require long prison terms for pedophiles, human rights activists say.
