Legalizing Prostitution - Pros and Cons
25.10.2011The report "Legalizing Prostitution - Pros and Cons" examines a topic widely discussed, but poorly understood in Bulgarian society. The question is radical, the possible answers - with many meanings. Here lies the purpose of the proposed text - to inform about the complexity of the possible solutions and to challenge the public attention.
Prostitution in Bulgaria is widespread, exceeding the levels in most of Europe. It cannot be, anyway a professional occupation, since it is the criminal networks that manage more than 90% of the sector. Given these conditions prostitution has become a major social problem. A significant number of people are involved in its networks and their life remains devoid of individual life project. On the other hand the same conditions hamper direct response to the question of legalization and subsequent regulation. Different degrees of legalization suppose that the criminal circles will be more favored than affected. In this respect long-term policies are recommended under the condition that the levels of organized criminality in the country are much lower than today.
The publication was supported by the Trust for Civil Society in Central and Eastern Europe.
Georgi Petrunov, Albena Stambolova, Julia Georgieva, Anna Lyubenova, Georgi Ganev, Ralitsa Ilkova; Natasha Dobreva
2011
Download the report (in Bulgarian).
