Bulgaria's Interior Minister: Legal Prostitution Will be Terrible Mistake Sofia_News_Agency - 2007/12/12
Bulgaria's Interior Minister Rumen Petkov reiterated Wednesday his firm position against legalisation of prostitution at a conference of a Sofia-based think-tank.
"Legalizing prostitution would be a terrible mistake and Bulgaria must not make a move towards legal flesh trade," said Rumen Petkov at the meeting at which the Center for Study of Democracy presented its report on the new trends in Bulgaria's organized crime.
Sex trade in Bulgaria has an annual turnover of about EUR 90 M, according to the report, while worldwide the turnover reaches EUR 1.8 B.
Rumen Petkov declared that the Ministry will take strict measures against trafficking of people and added that proceedings against 91 leaders of criminal networks involved in trafficking have been launched during the past year.
Petkov highlighted that human trafficking flourishes in environments where paying for sex is permitted.
The fight against legal prostitution in Bulgaria was launched in October when the government, which had been until then planning to legalize prostitution, made an unexpected U-turn, part of a broader trend in Europe to make prostitution illegal as a way to combat sexual trafficking