The Local Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and the Sport School "Dimitar Rohov" in the Town of Sliven Launch Joint Initiative for Prevention of Human Trafficking and Cybercrime
The Local Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (LCCTHB), town of Sliven and the Sport School "Dimitar Rohov" Sliven launched an information campaign for the prevention of human trafficking and cybercrime in the context of the use of the Internet for recruiting victims, advertising services and exploitation.
The main focus of the initiative will be to hold information meetings with parents in order to actively and directly involve them in the prevention process, by providing information on the risks for children on the World Wide Web, with a focus on the methods of involvement in human trafficking via the Internet and the subsequent control of victims.
The issues of child loneliness in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic and uncontrolled access to the Internet as one of the main risks of unwanted contact on social networks and subsequent involvement in online sexual coercion and extortion will be addressed.
In order to provide information on possible reporting of computer crimes and threats on the Internet, the website www.cybercrime.bg of the Cybercrime Unit of the General Directorate for Combating Organised Crime, the only specialised structure among the law enforcement agencies in the Republic of Bulgaria working on countering all different forms of sexual exploitation and other forms of online abuse of children, will be promoted.
According to a February 2022 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) report, "Internet and communication technologies have led to the emergence and rapid expansion of technology-facilitated human trafficking. The misuse of technology has become an essential part of the traffickers' business model and is present at every stage of the crime, from targeting and recruitment, to control and coercion, to exploitation. At the most basic level, the Internet and communication technologies facilitate the relationship between perpetrators, between traffickers and their victims, and with consumers of goods and services derived from victims."