Human trafficking campaign for raising awareness of existing risks

A campaign to curb human trafficking by raising awareness of existing risks will start between the end of May and the beginning of June in Sofia and eleven other Bulgarian cities, the Face to Face organization told a news conference on Thursday.

This is the first Bulgarian campaign of its kind to focus on parents as its target group. Parents have a crucial role to play in improving children’s safety, said Iliana Derilova, International Organization for Migration (IOM) Chief of Mission in Bulgaria.

The main activities during the campaign will be public lectures, seminars and roundtable discussions. A special 42-second video will be broadcast by TV stations to remind parents that they need to devote more time to their children. IOM Bulgaria said it maintains a helpline at (+359 2) 93-94-777.

Education and Science Minister Daniel Vulchev, who chairs the National Commission against Trafficking in People, said human trafficking is one of the most serious problems of our time and one of the most lucrative illegal activities. He cited US State Department figures, showing that between 600,000 and 800,000 people, mostly women and children, become victims of trafficking annually.

Bulgarian Interior Ministry services, working together with colleagues in other countries, broke eleven transborder human trafficking rings in 2006, Deputy Interior Minister Boiko Kotsev said. Nine persons were sentenced in that year for trafficking in women.

Also in 2006, Bulgarian special services provided assistance to 196 people trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation. The Interior Ministry has been working under eight international programmes involving partners in other European countries and the United States.

A total of 82 human trafficking cases involving Bulgarians were solved in 2006, Kotsev said. In 26 of these cases, the victims were aged under 18. They were returned from Belgium, Italy, Austria and Germany.

Control became more difficult as part of Bulgaria’s borders were „opened“ after the country’s accession to the EU, he said.

Although the new campaign is supported financially by mobile phone operator MobilTel, further donations are needed for its implementation.

BTA