Taken from Novinite


Bulgaria is in dire need of writing a new law on prostitution, given that it is clear that current statute is outmoded and inappropriate to modern realities – including those realities, as highlighted by Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, that link the country’s sex industry to organised crime.

It is an open question when research, as reported at a high-level discussion in recent days, can establish with some certainty the scale and dynamics of Bulgaria’s sex industry;
when the Interior Ministry’s statements and actions link the industry to illegal activities such as people trafficking;
when prosecutors complain about the uselessness of the existing 1968 law;
why the law has not been revised.

Various countries have taken differing approaches to prostitution, either to outlaw it entirely, or to direct law enforcement against the users of such services rather than against those who provide them, or some other variation of regulation or, in some cases, effective decriminalisation.

Opinion polls show a split among Bulgaria’s public about whether sex work should be legalised. However, this must be less of a factor than the Government considering what its best options would be to act against evils about which there can be no debate, specifically people trafficking, child prostitution and money laundering.

Several years have been lost in dealing with the issue, and even though foreign governments and law enforcement agencies have acknowledged that Bulgaria has made some progress against issues such as people trafficking, the work of independent researchers makes it abundantly clear that much remains to be done.

Again, while progress has been acknowledged, it is well-known that Bulgaria continues to have a serious problem with organised crime. Police actions and reform of the judiciary are essential aspects of dealing with this problem, but so too are measures against everything that feeds it. At the same time, it would be an effective blow against those who have prospered for years, content in the knowledge that an obsolete and vague statute has served their nefarious interests.

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"
Several years have been lost in dealing with the issue"
. Isn't this always the case in Bulgaria??