Toespraak staatssecretaris Teeven op conferentie mensenhandel (Sofia, Bulgarije)

Toespraak | 21-12-2010

Your Excellency,

Deputy Prime Minister Tsvetanov,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Friends,

It is an honour for me to speak to you today here in Sofia, at the Closing Conference of the Dutch – Bulgarian Project on Combating Trafficking of Human Beings.

I am really pleased to see this many representatives of all the important stakeholder organisations: judges, prosecutors, police and nongovernmental organisations (NGO’s). And of course our host, the National Commission for Combating Trafficking of Human Beings (NCCTHB).

Before I address the specific topic of today’s conference, let me start by saying that the enlargement of the EU is one of the most important events of this century. It has not only done away with the political division of Europe and expanded the area of freedom, democracy and prosperity, but it has given us much better possibilities to deal with the challenges of the 21st century as well.

As a public prosecutor, I visited Bulgaria in the nineties, in 2003 and most recently in 2005. Each time I was impressed by all the new changes and developments. We all know that Bulgaria faces difficulties in its justice system and fight against corruption and organized crime. Therefore, I am very pleased to see the ambitious reform agenda of the current government. It is a very important agenda because a lot of challenges still lie ahead when it comes to (a) the functioning of the judiciary, (b) the prevention and fight against corruption and (c) the battle against organised crime.

Rule of law and an effective system for fighting crime are essential for every country, not only for the functioning of its society, but also for its long-term economic development. Reforms in the justice system are a matter of continued attention and I would like to state that the Netherlands has supported and will continue to support all necessary reforms.

This brings me back to the specific topic of today’s conference. One of the challenges of our times, is to stop trafficking in human beings. Not only is human trafficking a terrible violation of human rights, it is also a serious form of organised crime that is closely related to corruption and money laundering.

Today, I travelled to Sofia, to underline the importance of active and effective cooperation between Bulgaria and The Netherlands in the fight against trafficking in human beings.

As we all know, Bulgaria and The Netherlands share experience with this awful phenomenon: many victims of human trafficking are recruited here, in Bulgaria, and are exploited in The Netherlands, particularly in the sex-industry, but also in terms of labour exploitation. The violation of their human rights is shocking and it is something I am not willing to accept. But as a well known Bulgarian proverb says; Priatel v nuzjda se poznava – a good friend is recognized in times of trouble. This is why some years ago we decided to start cooperation between our two countries to link all Bulgarian and Dutch organisations involved in fighting human trafficking.

Strong cooperation is essential to be effective against this serious form of crime. We need both national and international partnerships, to help victims effectively and to bring down criminal organisations responsible for their suffering. Since organised crime does not limit itself to a single country, the partnerships formed by the organisations involved in fighting organised crime has to be, by definition, cross-border.

The Matra-project that was initiated in the field of combating trafficking in human beings is aimed at both improving the cooperation between The Netherlands and Bulgaria in the field of human trafficking and strengthening the national Bulgarian approach to this problem. Today we finalize this project and I believe we can be proud of what has been achieved. Let me point out some of the results of our cooperation:

1. The Unit for Combating Human Trafficking of the Bulgarian Organised Crime Police has a much stronger analysis capacity.

2. There is a firm set of recommendations for Penal Law policy.

3. We came up with many good ideas on the development and management of shelter facilities for victims.

4. We organised an extensive public campaign on prevention throughout schools in the entire country. Pupils are now aware of the danger of becoming a victim of human trafficking.

Another significant result of our combined efforts is the so-called National Referral Mechanism for victims of trafficking in human beings. It was developed in close cooperation between the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (NCCTHB), La Strada International and the Animus Association. To my great delight, the mechanism was adopted by the Bulgarian government as official government policy and new standard in the field of identification, protection and social re-integration of victims.

But perhaps the most special outcome of all our efforts is that we created the necessary mutual understanding and trust for increasing our operational success. Many Bulgarian delegations went to the Netherlands and the other way around. Bulgarian officers worked in the Netherlands and Dutch law enforcement officials visited their colleagues in cities such as Sofia, Sliven and Burgas. In other words, our police officers and prosecutors learned from each other and learned to work with each other.

It is noteworthy that the cooperation went so well, considering the fact that Bulgarians shake their heads horizontally and the Dutch nod their heads vertically, while they both mean to say yes. This can easily lead to misunderstandings. But we both got used to it and now we understand each other better than ever before.

I have good hope that this will lead to concrete results in the near future. The preparations for one or more Joint Investigations are already very promising. I am sure they will contribute to get human traffickers where they belong: in jail!

By the way, it is remarkable to see that by cooperating with the Bulgarian partners, the Dutch services increased the cooperation among each other as well. Although the cooperation between police and prosecution has always been good, one of the police officers told me that working together with the Bulgarian partners had also intensified his own contacts with his Dutch partners.

My special thanks go to minister Tsvetanov as Minister of Interior and head of the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings, because of his sincere personal dedication to the problem of trafficking. Bulgarian participation throughout this project has been extremely supportive. I congratulate you – and all Bulgarian partners – with the results achieved. Pozdravlenia! Good job!

Ladies and gentlemen,

Many Dutch-Bulgarian partnerships have been formed. I am sure they will enable Bulgaria and the Netherlands to continue their successful cooperation in the years to come. It is up to us together to prove that the cooperation between our law enforcement institutions is stronger than the cooperation between the traffickers. We owe it to our citizens.

Thank you.