The Government of Bulgaria does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of human trafficking but is making significant effort to do so, according to the United States state department trafficking in persons report 2009.

The report, presented on June 16 by secretary of state Hillary Clinton, recommended that Bulgaria should "vigorously investigate, prosecute, convict, and punish government officials complicit in trafficking; continue efforts to investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders and ensure that a majority of convicted traffickers serve some time in prison; continue to increase the number of victims referred by government officials for assistance; and continue to improve data collection and methods for assessing trafficking law enforcement statistics".

Bulgaria was a source, transit and to a lesser extent, destination country for men, women and children from Ukraine, Moldova and Romania trafficked to and through Bulgaria to Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, Norway, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Turkey, and Macedonia for commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour, the report said.

Ethnic Roma women and children were "highly vulnerable" to trafficking.

Children were trafficked within Bulgaria and to Greece and the United Kingdom for the purposes of forced begging and forced petty theft. About 15 per cent of identified trafficking victims in Bulgaria are children.

Bulgarian women and some men were trafficked within the country, primarily to resort areas along the Black Sea coast and in border towns with Greece, for the purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labour.

The report said that in 2008, Bulgaria’s Government had "maintained strong efforts" to investigate, prosecute, and convict trafficking offenders, targeting some of the leaders of trafficking networks.

The Government doubled the number of Government-run centres available to assist child trafficking victims and opened a new adult shelter in April 2009.
The Government "generally maintained" the number of traffickers sentenced to time in prison, but it did not prosecute public officials complicit in trafficking in the past year.

In 2008, police conducted 187 sex trafficking and 25 labour trafficking investigations, compared to 179 sex trafficking and 22 labour trafficking investigations in 2007.  Last year, authorities prosecuted 79 individuals for sex trafficking and eight for forced labour compared to 78 people prosecuted in 2007.

In 2008, a total of 69 trafficking offenders were convicted – 66 for sex trafficking and three for labour trafficking offences – compared to 71 sex trafficking offenders and two labour trafficking offenders convicted in 2007. Twenty-five of the 69 traffickers convicted in 2008 served time in prison. Of those 25, 12 trafficking offenders were sentenced to up to three years’ imprisonment, six were sentenced to three to five years’ imprisonment, and seven were sentenced to five to 15 years’ imprisonment.

"There were continued reports of trafficking-related corruption during the reporting period," the report said.
In autumn 2008, police arrested three municipal councillors in Varna for allegedly leading an organised human trafficking and money laundering group; the investigation was ongoing at the time the report was compiled.

In 2008, the Government also investigated a police officer for complicity in trafficking. During the period covered by the report, the Government closed an investigation launched in 2007 against a low-level border police officer allegedly involved in human trafficking.

The report said that in 2008, Bulgaria had conducted awareness campaigns including through films and brochures, with these including warnings about the risks of falling victim to trafficking while looking for summer employment and travel.

In April 2009, Bulgaria’s Parliament amended the criminal code to punish clients of children in prostitution with up to three years’ imprisonment, the report said.