Bulgaria

One of the aims of the Childhood without Abuse Project was to strengthen child protection systems in the countries participating in the project - Bulgaria, Lithuania, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine. As a step toward diagnosing the systems and changes that has been introduced so far, flow charts of child protection system in each country have been created by the organizations participating in the project.

Child trafficking continues to be a serious concern in South Eastern Europe, with high numbers of children trafficked for exploitative purposes. Despite increased attention and responses to the issue over the past years the capacity of governments to undertake effective measures to prevent trafficking and protect children who have suffered from being trafficked remain limited. The main obstacle are weak child protection systems, lack of financial and technical resources, limited understanding of factors that make children exposed to trafficking and failure to address the root causes and the structural dimension of the problem. Save the Children in Albania is contributing to fight against child trafficking in the region by conducting the Regional Child Trafficking Response Programme (CTRP).

Social Activities and Practices Institute is operating two websites devoted to the problem of children participating in legal procedures. The websites contain useful information for professionals and caretakers as well as children - witness. They were created in the frame of different projects run by SAPI, focusing on introducing changes in Bulgarian legislation and practice that would improve the difficult situation of children taking part in legal procedures.

Below you will find the links to the websites.

Mario project is a joint effort of four NGOs working in the field of child protection to form an advocacy platform for improving protection of children in Europe and pressurizing European and national decision-makers about child trafficking issues. The partners of this 3-year project are ECPAT Nederland, Neglected Children Society in Bulgaria, Nobody's Children Foundation in Poland, Save the Children in Albania and Terre des hommes - Child Relief in Albania, Kosovo and Hungary, all experienced in implementing child protection projects in the European context.