Contributed by: Genoveva Tisheva, Bulgaria National VAW Monitor

Since the end of September 2007, the activities and events of the government and NGOs on VAW were renewed. The beginning of the “new season” was marked by four main events:

The renewal of activities of the working group on the implementation of the Campaign of the Council of Europe against VAW

Two meetings of the group, which comprise representatives of key ministries, with the main focal point being the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, and NGOs dealing with the issue. The joint events for the forthcoming 16-days campaign against violence against women were discussed at the meetings, as well as conducting a conference organized by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP) with the participation of NGOs dealing with domestic violence in the country. This latter conference would take place in the beginning of December 2007. Please see the programme (unofficial translation) for the campaign at the bottom of this page.

The celebration of Prevention Day by the Ministry of the Interior

This event took place on 29 September 2007. It was an open-air event with the participation of NGOs dealing with the prevention of violence and crime. Brochures, publications, posters were displayed for the general public.

The organization of a Conference on Prevention of Trafficking in Women by the Institute for Democracy and Stability in South-Eastern Europe (IDSSEE) and the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation on 5 October 2007

The conference was opened by addresses by: Mrs. Nadezhda Mihaylova, MP and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, in her capacity as the Chairperson of the IDSSEE; the President Mr. Parvanov; the Prosecutor-General, Mr. B. Velchev, and; the Minister of the Interior, Mr. R. Petkov. They all agreed on the need to strengthen the fight against trafficking in women and sexual exploitation, as well as the need to strengthen legislation against trafficking and enhance its implementation. The three male representatives of high-level state authorities rejected the legalization of prostitution in Bulgaria, which in the current socio-economic situation, would only bring more exploitation and legalization of illegal businesses. In the course of the conference, the Swedish model for combating trafficking in women was presented, as well as the Bulgarian legislation on the issue. Special attention was paid to the lack of implementation of the Law on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, and namely the lack of  infrastructure at national and local level for the implementation of the law. Only after more than three years since the entry into force of the law in January 2004, a Secretary of the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings was appointed.

The fact that the new European Convention on Combating Trafficking in Persons has become part of the Bulgarian domestic legislation was noted. The Convention was in fact ratified by Bulgaria on 7 March 2007, and has been in force for Bulgaria since 18 June and promulgated  in August 2007 in the State Gazette  No. 63/2007. Representatives of BGRF suggested ensuring the full compliance of the Bulgarian legislation with the Convention transposing concrete provisions of some new elements contained in the Convention, i.e.: strengthen the system of identification and protection of the victims of trafficking, ensure legal aid for victims, address the demand, seek responsibility from legal persons involved in trafficking in persons, etc. The participants agreed that full compliance should be sought also with other international treaties ratified by the Bulgarian government.

In this relation another event should be mentioned: the celebration of  18 October, the European Day against Trafficking in human beings

This event was organized by the Ministry of Interior and the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in persons. The governmental representatives, and especially the Minister of the Interior, reiterated their commitment to fight sexual exploitation and strengthen responsibility of perpetrators. For more information, please see the What's New, "Bulgarian Government Will Not Legalize Prostitution in order to Combat Sex Trafficking."


 Ministry of Labour and Social Policy Action Plan  
(unofficial translation)