SOFIA, Feb 5: Bulgaria launched an information campaign on Tuesday to raise public awareness about human trafficking.

“We have to dispel the illusions of some 20 per cent the population that western Europe is some kind of heaven on earth with no poverty or misery,” said political scientist, Kolyo Kolev, head of a think tank called Mediana and author of a new report on human trafficking.

His study, published on Tuesday, showed that while a lot of Bulgarians wanted to emigrate, many of them were unaware of the dangers of falling victim to human trafficking.

Out of a total 1,500 people polled, around 38 per cent expressed a desire to emigrate to western Europe. The proportion was even higher, 48 per cent, among the poorer sections of the population. “We have to show potential victims that it’s their own responsibility not to let themselves be duped,” Kolev said.

According to a recent report by the Sofia-based Centre for the Study of Democracy, Bulgaria is one of Europe’s biggest exporters of prostitutes and has one of the largest and most developed networks of prostitutes.

The think tank estimated there were 18,000-21,000 Bulgarian prostitutes working around Europe, mostly in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Greece. The money earned from their exploitation amounted to $1.3-2.6bn a year, equivalent to 3.6-7.2 per cent of Bulgarian GDP in 2006, said CSD analyst Tikhomir Bezlov. To combat the export of prostitutes and pickpockets to Europe, Bulgaria recently set up a National Anti-trafficking Commission that will also launch programmes for helping reintegrate trafficking victims back into society.—AFP