Who We Are

The members of the Daughters of Bulgaria partner together to address the issues of Bulgarian women (often with children) who are:

  • at risk of being enslaved by sexual exploitation
  • already enslaved in sexual exploitation
  • trafficked in and beyond borders to be sexually exploited

I want to understand...

 

Human Trafficking?

The United Nations defines HT this way: "Trafficking in Persons is the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs."

Sex Trafficking? Commercial Sexual Exploitation?

Exodus Cry says this: "Commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) is what happens to anyone sold in the sex industry. It’s in many ways synonymous with sex trafficking and includes all forms of sexual exploitation for profit, including escort, street and brothel prostitution, as well as pornography, and stripping. Any time payment is exchanged for some kind of sexual objectification of another person it’s considered CSE. For those who want to fight trafficking, knowing that sex trafficking exists is the first step. The next step is understanding CSE because that’s what allows sex trafficking to exist. For that reason, if we want to end sex trafficking we must end commercial sexual exploitation.

“Just because a woman wasn’t physically ‘forced’ to be sold for sex doesn’t mean there weren’t other compelling forces drawing her into this place of degradation.”

CSE is unique from sex trafficking in that it doesn’t necessarily require proof of the distinguishing trafficking factors of “force, fraud, and coercion” as prerequisites. What that means is that we consider all women in the sex industry to be victims of CSE whether or not they had been “trafficked” in the classic sense."

6 Common MYTHS about Prostitution and the Law

1. MYTH: If you make prostitution illegal it will go underground.

2. MYTH: Legal/decriminalized prostitution will enable women to have better health and safer working environments, helping to prevent the spread of STDs since mandatory health checks can be implemented. Women won’t be afraid to carry condoms, ask for help from police when in danger, or seek help from health professionals.

3. MYTH: Nothing is fundamentally problematic about prostitution itself. There is no intrinsic harm in prostitution; it is just consensual sex for money.

4. MYTH: You cannot conflate sex trafficking with prostitution.

5. MYTH: The United Nations supports the decriminalization of prostitution.

6. MYTH: Prostituted women choose to be there and that choice is an expression of their freedom.

Why are these myths?

 

Films and Documentaries

COMING SOON

Books & Printed Resources

COMING SOON

Our Global Networks

Our global network partners offer additional educational resources. Please visit
their sites for more information.

 

Organizations in Bulgaria

These are a few of the Bulgarian NGOs and government agencies with which we collaborate:

*DISCLAIMER: Any reference obtained from this server to a specific organization, process, or service does not constitute or imply an endorsement by the Daughters of Bulgaria Foundation of the product, process, or service, or its producer or provider. The views and opinions expressed in any referenced document, film or work does not necessarily state or reflect those of the Daughters of Bulgaria.

I want to give...

The Rose Garden Program has adopted the SA Foundation (Servants Anonymous) Canada’s Program Model. The SA Foundation is a Christian-based program widely recognized as one of the few programs worldwide meeting the specific long-term recovery and reintegration needs of sexually exploited/trafficked youth, women and their children. The SA Foundation’s Program Model has been replicated in cities and countries worldwide and is both practical and culturally transferrable.

For more information on the SA Foundation and to see where they work, visit www.safoundation.com.