The international conference “Safe future of women -- safe future for all” has brought together for a discussion public officials and representatives of the non-governmental sector. It was held under the patronage of the EU Commissioner for Digital Economy Mariya Gabriel and its organizer was Animus Association.

All participants in the forum agreed that the problem of violence against women had become more serious and its solution should not be delayed. The Chairperson of the Foreign Policy Committee in the Bulgarian National Assembly Dzhema Grozdanova pointed out that Bulgaria was the last among EU Member States to sign the Istanbul Convention but had not ratified it. For the time being its official enforcement has stopped and will take place when the Bulgarian society is ready for this act. Until then other measures will be taken for protection of the victims of violence. Bulgarian Justice Minister Tsetska Tsacheva contends that amendments to the Criminal Code are needed:

„The classification of crimes should be extended because the existing one does not include acts related to the theme of violence as a crime. This finding is based on a survey of practices at ten districts courts of justice and has to do with verdicts issued in 2012-2014 for premeditated murder and for attempted murder of women. In 91% of the cases murders of women were committed by men, 7% resulted from complicity of men and women and only 2% of murderes were committed by women. In 35% of cases murders and attempted murders were committed by a current or former intimate partners, and in 25% of cases – by brothers, sons, grandsons or another male relative; in 31% by another familiar man and in only 9% of cases a male stranger was involved. We can therefore conclude that the cases of domestic violence should take center stage when legislative changes are devised. For the time being current legislation fails to provide adequate protection to victims and sanctions for the perpetrators of the crimes of ‘persecution’ or ‘stalking’ found in other European countries. Provisions do not stipulate prosecution of psychological abuse as an autonomous form of crime. It is almost invisible but is in fact widespread. On the one hand it includes verbal abuse, and secondly, it includes the isolation of the victim and depriving her from means of independent action. Thirdly, it deprives the victim of means of subsistence. Such acts leave a lasting impact on the lives not only of the victims but also on their family circles, including children.”

One of the participants in the discussion was a woman who had for years been the victim of violence by her partner. She left him a few times but then came back hoping he would change. The happy ending though failed to take place. Her true story prompted former interior minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov to continue the topic of violence and turn to human trafficking. The point of intersection between the two crimes is that they are both directed against the personality and that their perpetrators should face stricter punishment. Tsvetanov said that so far more than 95% of sentences for such crimes had been suspended, however:

“I can say that when institutions work together they are able to achieve together the necessary effect via changes to legislation. We succeeded in increasing the maximum punishment for human trafficking and it is now 15 years of imprisonment. We have increased the fines as well as the minimum punishment to make sure that more persons will be sentenced. Well, the problem is whether citizens and politicians are committed to these efforts. Unfortunately, so far we haven’t seen commitment from local governments who are expected to form local commissions aimed to fight human trafficking. There are only ten such commissions at the regional level. Our task is to engage society but above all we should reach parents. The family holds the key to how children should be properly protected from such criminal schemes.”

English Daniela Konstantinova