Bulgaria 'Still Prime Source of Human Trafficking'

Bulgaria has been a main source of people forcefully taken to Western Europe between 2011 and 2014, a report unveiled by the Council of Europe says, cited by Dnevnik.bg.

The report is not yet available on the CoE's website. According to Dnevnik. it is calling on Sofia to address the problems of the Roma minority in the country and provide the needed funding for anti-trafficking authorities.

Women are still the most frequent victims of trafficking, for sexual exploitation purposes, but the number of men forced to work in agriculture or construction is also on the rise.

Most of the victims are brought to Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, and also Central and Eastern European countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Cyprus, and Greece.

Bulgaria also needs to grant financial compensations to victims of trafficking and to remove the option of out-of-court settlement in cases of trafficking.

A joint EU solution is needed to prevent "social dumping", the practice of foreign companies registering entities in Bulgaria to hire employees who are to work in another member state, Petya Nestorova, who chairs the CoE Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, is quoted as saying.