LA STRADA" PROGRAMME - BULGARIA (1998 - 2001)

Press and lobby campaign

The purpose of this campaign is to achieve the recognition of trafficking in women in Bulgaria as a violation of human rights and to obtain its official condemnation on the part of the government and the state. Another aim is the development of a national action plan to work against trafficking in women, to create a legal basis for criminalisation of trafficking, and to support the victims. Lobbying is based on frequent involvement of the media; individual work with journalists; monitoring of the press; distribution of information among governmental and non-governmental organisations through fact sheets; and participation in, and organisation of conferences, seminars, and meetings.

• Over 300 media presentations, 60 of them on popular TV programmes
  
• 5 inter-institutional conferences dedicated to the issue, two of them international
  
• Working relationships with all institutions working against trafficking in women or in support of the survivors - Police, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Border Police, Ministry of Labour and Social Policy, etc.

Prevention campaign

Our main objective in prevention is to ensure that girls and women can make informed choices when planning to go abroad. This is achieved through education on several different levels - information on the Help-line, coverage by the media, informational pamphlets, and direct work with potential victims of trafficking. Other important aspects of our work are prevention lectures and the training of trainers.

• More than 50 lectures on the prevention of trafficking in women were delivered to young women in schools, universities, and orphanages.
  
• More than 45,000 information and prevention leaflets were distributed among different groups of young women.
  "Travel Guide for Modern Girls (Some Ideas before You Go Abroad)" - information brochure for young women from schools and universities.
  "A story of a Girl" - information brochure for illiterate young women.
  "Small Book for the Big World"- information brochure for sex workers.
  "Trafficking in Women" - information leaflet for potential users and the public.
  "Trafficking in Women: Questions and Answers"- collected papers of Bulgarian experts: psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers, journalists and lawyers.
• Seven training seminars for the prevention of trafficking in schools were organised for teachers and school counsellors. (see also Training Unit)