The National Commission for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings (NCCTHB) has started a pilot project in the coastal region of Varna to prevent human trafficking among minority ethnic groups with a focus on the most vulnerable of them - the Roma minority. The project, which will continue until January 2014, has a budget of 67,650 euros provided by the French government. Why has Paris undertaken to assist in resolving this issue? Perhaps because France was among the first countries in the EU that suffered the consequences of the problems of immigrant Roma people. In the middle of 2010, a large group of Roma from Romania and a very small number of Bulgarian Roma were returned on a flight from Paris back to their countries.

Commenting on these past events, the Ambassador of France ambassador in Sofia, HE Philip Otie, told Radio Bulgaria more:
"We remember the controversy in 2010 when France decided to return to their own countries people illegally residing in France, mostly Romanian and a few Bulgaria citizens. However, these controversies have helped our fellow European citizens to understand better the problem that the Roma minority and its integration poses for the whole of Europe. And perhaps as a result of this controversy, the EU has adopted as one of its main policies the integration of the Roma minorities in the territory of individual countries. We believe that this awareness of the countries to respond to it with the necessary concern. Of course, the hardest part is yet to come – the actual work on integration”.

In the joint French-Bulgarian project, the field work will be done by the National Commission for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings in cooperation with the Municipality of Varna and several NGOs having experience in working with Roma children and women at risk. These are the National Network of Health Mediators, the Varna-based Co-participation Association, and the Bulgarian Family Planning Association.

Why was it the Varna region that was selected for this project? The main reason is because it is the site of both internal and external trafficking - from other regions of Bulgaria to Varna and from Varna to foreign countries, said Antoaneta Vassileva, secretary of the National Commission for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings. And there is another important reason, as well.
"Another specificity of the region of Varna and Bourgas is that thesecoastal cities attract traffickers in pregnant women whose children are sold, mainly in Greece. To prevent this traffic we must work within these communities - to inform people of the risks and how to avoid them. The aim of our project is to reduce the number of victims in these vulnerable communities within a two years’ period. We also aim at building a model policy to be applied in other municipalities and be seen as an overall policy for the prevention of trafficking in the most threatened communities. We will increase the knowledge of these people about their rights, especially because women do not know their rights and do not know how to defend themselves. We will create a supportive network of Roma people who can assist their fellow citizens in trouble. And we will train volunteers to continue our work after the project."

The third reason for which the pilot project will be conducted in the region of Varna is that the local municipality has accumulated much experience in fighting human trafficking, especially in babies. Deputy Mayor Prof. Hristo Bozov illustrates this with concrete examples:
"Since 2008, we have built several pilot centers in the country - the first shelter for victims of human trafficking for 6 people and a crisis response center for victims of trafficking and domestic violence that can accommodate 10 persons. We created a program that focused our efforts on the prevention of trafficking in pregnant women. As a result of our joint actions, in 2011 we had only one case of trafficking, while in the period 2009-2010 the victims were 23".

Violence, illegal networks for begging, pick pocketing, prostitution, trafficking in babies - these are all threats that teenagers and women in the poor Roma neighborhoods are faced with. The Roma community is truly among the most vulnerable segments of the population and it is therefore the target group of the project, said Bulgaria’s Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov. He announced that a breakthrough was made in the justice system, regarding the organizers of human trafficking gangs in this country. According to him, the court has for the first time come out with “severe sentences of over ten years in prison corresponding to the severity of the committed crimes".

Author: Maria Dimitrova; English Version: Rossitsa Petcova

Source: BNR