FINAL REPORT - Save the Children Italia Onlus

IPART1818For furtherinformation see Savethe Children inAlbania, ChildrenSpeak Out - TraffickingRisk and Resilience inSoutheast Europe,Regional Report, July2007. (Hereinafter:“Children SpeakOut”).FINAL REPORTDevelopment of a Child Rights Methodology to Identify and Support Child Victims of Trafficking2. BULGARIA2.1 GENERAL OVERVIEWVulnerability factors for child traffickingMany are the factors affecting the vulnerability of children to trafficking in Bulgaria:poverty, unemployment, domestic violence, lack of family support, lack of access toeducation or the non-completion of secondary studies, and lack of awareness ontrafficking. In addition, in the case of Roma children, discrimination, social exclusionand marginalisation, often linked to traumatic experiences (e.g. violence, rape, incest)also increase the risk of trafficking. Furthermore, the fast spread and strengthening oforganised crime in the country constitutes a powerful negative factor with regard to childtrafficking. Most frequently, trafficked children are between 12 and 18 years of age.The high levels of unemployment, poverty and the disproportionate development of theregions are conducive to migration, as well as to subjection to extreme forms of exploitation.Insofar as both migration and exploitation are elements of the trafficking in people,hypothetically the inhabitants of weakly developed regions are subjected to a greater risk oftrafficking due to the risks they are willing to take in search of a living. This is equally true oflong-term vulnerable and closed societies such as the Roma, whose living conditions howeverusually do not depend on the level of development of the region in which they live. 18The research has actually led to the identification of regions where the risk of traffickingis higher, these being big cities and nearby villages in South and South-Eastern Bulgaria,such as Pazardjik/Peshtera, Plovdiv, Sliven and Bourgas. In particular, Sliven, Stara andNova Zagora are areas from which pregnant women are smuggled to Greece to facilitateillegal adoptions, and Pazardjik and Peshtera, of women smuggled to France and Italy.Further, villages in Northern Bulgaria in the certain regions, and Vidin in the North-West and Sandanski and Petrich in the South-West are areas at high risk of bothinternational trafficking for all purposes and internal trafficking.Countries in the trafficking cycleBulgaria remains a country of origin and transit and, to a lesser extent, a country ofdestination. Main transit countries for child trafficking from Bulgaria are Albania,Romania, Serbia and Macedonia. The most common destination countries are Belgium,Germany, the Netherlands, France and Italy, while Moldova and Ukraine appear to bethe main countries of origin of victims trafficked to Bulgaria.Furthermore, according to recent research findings, it seems that internal trafficking isincreasing, in particular for sexual exploitation. To this extent, it is important to notethat internal trafficking is a phenomenon that presents quite different characteristics tointernational trafficking. Nonetheless, the analysis of concrete cases has led to theconclusion that sometimes exploitation within a country is one stage of internationaltrafficking itself and its purpose is to overcome the victim’s resistance and facilitatehis/her transportation across the border.Border crossingIndependently from the form of exploitation, trafficked children leave the country usingdifferent modalities. Roma children are typically accompanied either by their parentsor relatives or they travel with their parents’ formal authorisation and their legaldocuments. Otherwise, children travelling alone with recruiters or traffickers, are givenfalse identity documents. In some cases where the victims are adolescents, they declarethey are 18 years old to avoid presenting their parents’ or guardian’s authorisation toleave the country. If they are very young, then false declarations of consent are given,previously prepared by the traffickers. According to research findings, these declarationsare generally issued by criminal networks.FINAL REPORTDevelopment of a Child Rights Methodology to Identify and Support Child Victims of Trafficking2.2 TRAFFICKING OF CHILDRENFOR SEXUAL EXPLOITATIONProfiles and methods of recruitmentThe majority of child victims of trafficking or at risk of becoming victims oftrafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation are aged between 16 and 18 years.They are mainly female, but can also be male.The first contact between traffickers and child victims commonly takes place in discos,restaurants or pubs and frequently also in offices that appear to be “modelling andfashion model agencies”. In some cases, children already involved in prostitution, areapproached in the hotels where they work by recruiters, possibly assisted by hotel ownersor staff.Recruiters are mainly acquaintances or friends and sometimes relatives who frequentlypromise well paid jobs in Western European countries. This offer is most attractive tochildren experiencing economic hardship, being children from poor isolated areas orchildren escaped from institutions. Otherwise, in a smaller number of cases, they aresimply adolescents with aspirations for fast material gains. Either way, the most of thevictims do choose to work abroad although they dream of jobs and situations verydifferent from what in fact await them. In the case of children already involved inprostitution, it is very likely that they were aware that they would have performed thesame activity abroad albeit freely, to earn more money than what they would do inBulgaria. Sometimes children follow-up real job advertisements in newspapers, offeringpositions such as models, barmen, waiters, or chambermaids.In general, recruiters establish a relationship of trust with the victims, and in some casesuse other victims as recruiters. In other situations, it could be that traffickers themselvesbecome friends with the victims through third parties or “by chance” in bars ordiscotheques. These bars usually are owned by criminal groups involved in trafficking,which, often, is the very reason for their establishment.Roma children are frequently sold to traffickers by their parents or relatives who,sometimes, may be involved in the exploitation itself.K. is a 16 year old girl who regularly attends a centre for street children in a small town inSouth-Western Bulgaria. She was approached one night at a discotheque by a man whoclaimed to be the boyfriend of one of her friends at the centre and the girl also knew himas the son of a local shopkeeper.The man met K. several times and each time he gave herexpensive presents - a mobile phone and a gold bracelet. He offered K. a job as a chambermaid at a hotel in the Netherlands with very good payment. He also told her that herfriend was currently there, and would be very glad to work with her at the hotel. Later,she discovered that the girl who this man claimed to know intimately had been traffickedto the Netherlands for the purposes of sexual exploitation.TransportResearch findings have confirmed that channels and networks for trafficking for thepurpose of sexual exploitation coincide with those for trafficking in drug andweapons.Land transportation is the one used most frequently and traffickers or recruiters use bothprivate or public buses. Nonetheless, sometimes children are moved to destinationcountries via plane, which, apparently, is believed to be safer, as it prevents victims fromrunning away.G. (a 12 year old girl) and K. (a 10 year old boy), sister and brother, were found by theBorder police at the border with Serbia in a van transporting meat.The police reportstated that the children appeared to be very frightened, confused and frozen.They told thepolice that they were originally picked up in their hometown by a man and a woman whotold them that their mother was looking for them.They had travelled for hours to whatappeared to be a village, after that they were taken by another man, forced into the meattruck and later on were discovered by the Border police.IPART19