A Conference on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings took place on 7 June in New Bulgarian University (NBU) in Sofia. The event was organized by Ralica Kostadinova, Director of the Law Department of the University. Among the lecturers were representatives of the National Service for Combating Organized Crime (NSCOC), Animus Association Foundation, students and teachers from the NBU and other Universities.

Six papers were presented moderated by Prof. Dr. Rumen Vladimirov, Head of the Law Department. He opened the conference with the paper “Trafficking in human beings – contemporary crime with international participation”.

The next lecturer was Maria Petrova who presented the anti-violence work of Animus Association – the Bulgarian representative of the International Anti-traffic Foundation La Strada. She discussed the reasons as well as the consequences of the trafficking in human beings and explained various approaches the organization uses to assists victims of violence after their return in Bulgaria like: crisis intervention and long-term psychological support. Nona Kostadinova, volunteer in the organization, described the work of the hot-line both in prevention of trafficking and in dealing with the victims themselves.

Rumen Techev, presented a paper on the Cooperation between the non-governmental organizations and the Police in the fight against trafficking in human beings. He explained the difference between “trafficking in human beings” and “human smuggling” and discussed the procedure of giving witness testimony as it is defined in the Law on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings. Different possibilities of co-operation between NGOs and the Police were pointed out. Additionally, the importance of such a collaboration in order to counter trafficking in human beings more effectively and to better support victims of trafficking was stressed. In this respect, Rumen Techev briefly outlined the work of the NGOs in Bulgaria who successfully partner the Police. Among them the International Organization for Migration, Center Nadja Foundation, Animus Association, Open Society Foundation, etc. were mentioned.

The participants of the conference were presented with the legislation concerning trafficking in human beings by Anna Turpenova, student in NBU. The accent was put on the Law on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings which entered in force in 2004.

The conference was closed with the substantial paper Trafficking in Human Beings – a crime according to the Bulgarian Penal Code presented by the Senior Assistant at the Law Faculty in NBU Ralica Kostadinova. The paper raised the issue of the necessity of synchronizing the Law on Countering Trafficking in Human Beings with the Penal Code in Bulgaria.

Ms. Liliya Sazonova – Program Coordinator at the Center of Women’s Studies and Policies disseminated materials and encouraged participants to involve themselves in the National Violence against Women Monitoring Program by submitting information on projects and initiatives countering violence against women.

The conference was an interesting attempt to provide the participants with a more realistic and coherent overview of the problem of trafficking and managed to demonstrate the social, psychological, criminal and legal aspects of this phenomenon. The participants in the event expressed their opinion that meetings like this among representatives of the non-governmental sector, police and the academic society are very useful and should be continued in the future in order to improve their coordination and thus better protect the victims of illegal trafficking in human beings.