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Bulgaria
Summary of Domestic Prohibition
Slavery and slave trade
There appears to be no legislation in place in Bulgaria which prohibits slavery although the Criminal Code prescribes penalties for deprivation of liberty and forcing another person to do something against their will.
Practices similar to slavery
There appears to be no legislation in place in Bulgaria which prohibits institutions and practices similar to slavery, although keeping a person in forceful subjection is recognised as an element of trafficking in persons under article 159a of the Criminal Code.
Servitude
There appears to be no legislation in place in Bulgaria which prohibits servitude.
Forced or compulsory labour
Provisions related to forced labour are found in the Constitution which prohibits forced labour at article 48. Forceful labour is also an element of the offence of trafficking in persons under article 159a of the Criminal Code.
Human trafficking
Provisions related to trafficking in persons are found in the Criminal Code which makes trafficking in persons an offence at article 159a, defined as recruiting, transporting, concealing, or admitting an individual (or group of people) with the purpose of using them for debauched activities, forceful labour, dispossession of bodily organs or keeping them in forceful subjection.
Forced marriage
Provisions related to forced marriage in Bulgaria are found in the Criminal Code, which addresses inducing a person by compulsion to enter into marriage at Article 77, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for up to three years. Article 178 also prohibits a parent or another relative from receiving compensation to permit his daughter or female relative to conclude a marriage, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for up to one year or a fine from BGN one hundred to three hundred, and public censure. The same punishment is imposed on a person who gives or mediates in the giving or receiving of such compensation. Provisions related to forced marriage in Bulgaria are also found in the 2009 Family Code, which addresses a marriage in which consent has been given due to a threat with severe and imminent danger to the life, health or honour of the spouse or their relatives at Article 46.
Consent to marriage
Provisions requiring consent to marriage in Bulgaria are found in the Family codex, section 5 of which states that the marriage shall be concluded by mutual, free and explicit consent of a man and a woman, given personally and simultaneously before the civil status official. Section 46(2) further recognises that the consent of a party or prospective party to a marriage is invalidated where the person is subjected to coercion. Section 2of the Family Codex also recognises that marriage is based on the voluntariness of the couple.
Servile marriage
Although legislation in Bulgaria does not prohibit servile matrimonial transations in all their forms, it does prohibit parents or relatives receiving compensation to permit their daughter or female relative under the age of 16 to start living as married with someone under section 192 of the Criminal Code, with potential penalties of imprisonment for up to to years or a fine up to BGN 3,000. These penalties also applies to persons who give or mediate in the giving of such compensation.
Marriage trafficking
Although legislation in Bulgaria does not prohibit marriage trafficking as such, it does prohibit abduction for marriage under Article 177(2) of the Criminal Code, with a potential penalty of imprisonment for up to three years, and if the victim is not of full age, the punishment shall be imprisonment for up to five years.
Minimum age for marriage
The minimum age for marriage in Bulgaria is 18, without differentiation by gender, as set out on Article 6 of the 2009 Family Code. Where marriages are conducted involving a person below the minimum age, the marriage shall be annulled, as set out on Article 46 the 2009 Family Code. However, marriages below this age are permitted in case of important reasons, as set out on Article 6 of the 2009 Family Code. These exceptions are not differentiated by gender, and allow marriages as early as 16. Receiving compensation to permit a daughter or female relative, who has not yet completed 16 years of age to start living as married with another, is an offence under Article 192 of the Criminal Code, punishable with a potential penalty of imprisonment for up to two years or probation. If the offence is committed towards a person who has not yet completed 14 years of age, the potential penalty is imprisonment from two to five years.
Region
Eastern Europe
Regional Court
European Court of Human Rights
Legal System
Civil
International Instruments
International Obligations
- Slavery
- Servitude
- Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
- Forced Labour
- Human Trafficking
- Marriage Trafficking
Regional Organisations
- European Court of Human Rights
- Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
- European Union
- Council of Europe
Legislative Provisions
CONSTITUTION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA
Art. 4.
(1) The Republic of Bulgaria shall be a law-governed state. It shall be governed by the Constitution and the laws of the country.
(2) The Republic of Bulgaria shall guarantee the life, dignity and rights of the individual and shall create conditions conducive to the free development of the individual and of civil society.
(3) (new – SG 18/05) The Republic of Bulgaria shall participate in the establishing and the development of the European Union.
Art. 6.
(1) All persons are born free and equal in dignity and rights.
(2) All citizens shall be equal before the law. There shall be no privileges or restriction of rights on the grounds of race, nationality, ethnic self-identity, sex, origin, religion, education, opinion, political affiliation, personal or social status or property status.
Art. 29.
(1) No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, or to forcible assimilation.
(2) No one shall be subjected to medical, scientific or other experimentation without his voluntary written consent.
Art. 30.
(1) Everyone shall be entitled to personal freedom and inviolability.
(2) No one shall be detained or subjected to inspection, search or any other infringement of his personal inviolability except on the conditions and in a manner established by law.
(3) The state authorities shall be free to detain a citizen only in the urgent circumstances expressly stipulated by law, and shall immediately advise the judicial authorities accordingly. The judicial authorities shall rule on the legality of a detention within the next 24 hours.
Art. 48.
(1) Citizens shall have the right to work. The state shall take care to provide conditions for the exercising of this right.
(2) The state shall create conditions conducive to the exercising of the right to work by the physically or mentally disabled.
(3) Everyone shall be free to choose an occupation and place of work.
(4) No one shall be compelled to do forced labour.
(5) Workers and employees shall be entitled to healthy and non-hazardous working conditions, to guaranteed minimum pay and remuneration for the actual work performed, and to rest and leave, in accordance with conditions and procedures established by law.
CRIMINAL CODE
Article 142 Kidnapping and Unlawful Deprivation of Liberty
(1) A person who kidnaps another person in view of unlawfully depriving him/her of liberty shall be punished by deprivation of liberty from one to six years.
(2) The punishment shall be deprivation of liberty from three to ten years if:
1. the perpetrator has been armed;
2. the act has been committed by two or more persons;
3. the kidnapped person has been a pregnant woman or under 18 years of age;
4. the kidnapped person has been entitled to international protection;
5. the act has been perpetrated with regard to two or more persons.
6. the act has been perpetrated by a person engaged in security business, by an employee of an organisation carrying out security and insurance activities, by a person who acts on order of such an organisation or presents himself as acting on such order, by a person on the staff of the Ministry of Interior or a person who presents himself as such;
7. the kidnapping has been carried out with a venal goal in mind or for the purpose of taking the person over the borders of this country;
8. the act has been perpetrated by a person who acts at the orders or in implementing a decision of an organization or a group under art. 321a or of an organized criminal group.
(3) If as the result of the act under paragraphs (1) and (2) considerable harmful consequences have occurred, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to twelve years.
(4) If the act has been repeated or the kidnapped person has been treated with particular cruelty, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for five to fifteen years.
Article 142a
(1) A person who unlawfully deprives another of liberty shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to two years.
(2) Where the act has been committed by an official or by a representative of the public, in violation of his duties or functions, or a person under Article 142, paragraph (2), subparagraphs 6 and 8, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for one to six years.
(3) Where the act under the preceding paragraphs has been committed in respect of a pregnant woman, a minor or an underage person, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to ten years.
(4) Where the act under the preceding paragraphs has been committed in a manner painful or dangerous to the health of the victim, or where the deprivation of liberty has continued for more than 48 hours, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to ten years.
(5) The punishment under the preceding paragraph shall be imposed also on a person who consciously admits to or holds a healthy person at a health establishment for mentally ill persons.
Article 143
(1) A person who compels another to do, to omit or to suffer something contrary to his will, using for that purpose force, threats or abuse of his authority, shall be punished by deprivation of liberty for up to six years.
(2) Where the act has been perpetrated by a person under
Article 142, paragraph (2), subparagraphs 6 and 8, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to ten years.
(3) Where in the cases under the preceding paragraph the act of coercion has been committed in respect of a judge, a prosecutor, an examining magistrate, a person on the staff of the Ministry of Interior, a public enforcement agent, a private enforcement agent and an assistant private enforcement agent, as well as on a Customs officer, a tax administration officer, an officer of the National Forestry Directorate, or an officer of the Ministry of Environment and Waters performing a control activity, in the course of or in the event of carrying out his duties or functions, the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for two to eight years.
Article 152
(1) A person who has sexual intercourse with a person of the female sex:
1. who is deprived of the possibility of self-defence, and without her consent;
2. by compelling her thereto by force or threat;
3. by reducing her to a state of helplessness shall be punished for rape by deprivation of liberty for two to eight years.
shall be punished for rape by deprivation of liberty for two to eight years.
(2) For rape the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to ten years:
1. if the raped woman has not completed eighteen years of age;
2. if she is a relative of descending line;
3. if it was committed for a second time.
(3) For rape the punishment shall be deprivation of liberty for three to fifteen years:
- if it has been performed by two or more persons;
- if medium bodily injury has been caused;
- if an attempt at suicide has followed;
- if it has been committed in view of forceful involvement in further acts of debauchery or prostitution;
- if it constitutes a case of dangerous recidivism.
(4) The punishment for rape shall be of ten to twenty years, where:
- the victim has not turned fourteen years of age;
- severe bodily injury has been caused;
- suicide has ensued;
- it qualifies as a particularly serious case.
Article 159a Trafficking of People
(1) Anyone, who recruits, transports, conceals or admits particular individuals or groups of people with the purpose of using them for debauched activities, forceful labour, dispossession of bodily organs or keeping them in forceful subjection, regardless of their consent, is subjected to penalty of imprisonment for a term from two to eight years and a fine from three to twelve thousand BGN.
(2) When the act under para.1 has been committed:
- with regard to an individual who is under the age of eighteen years;
- through the use of force or by misleading the individual;
- through kidnapping or illegal deprivation of liberty;
- through making use of a status of dependency;
- through the abuse of power;
- through promising, giving or receiving benefits, the punishment is imprisonment for a term from three to ten years and a fine from ten to twenty thousand BGN.
(3) Where the act under Para 1 has been committed in respect to a pregnant woman with the purpose of selling her child, the punishment is imprisonment for a term from three to fifteen years and a fine from twenty to fifty thousand BGN.
Article 159b
(1) An individual, who recruits, transports, conceals or admits particular individuals or groups of people and takes them over the border of the country with the purpose over art.159a, para.1, is subjected to a penalty of imprisonment for a term from three to twelve years and a fine from ten to twenty thousand BGN.
(2) If the criminal deed is committed under the conditions of art.159a, para.2 and 3, the penalty is an imprisonment for a term from five to twelve years and a fine from twenty to fifty thousand BGN.
Article 159c
Anyone who uses an individual who is a victim of the traffic with people, for debauched activities, forceful labour, dispossession of bodily organs or with the purpose to be kept in forceful subjection regardless of his/her consent, is subjected to a penalty of imprisonment from three to ten years and a fine from ten to twenty thousand BGN.
Article 159d
In the cases when the activity under art. 159a-159b is qualified as dangerous recidivism or have been committed after an order or in implementation of a decision of an organized criminal group, the penalty is imprisonment for a term from five to fifteen years and a fine from twenty to one hundred thousand BGN, the court may also decree a confiscation of part or the whole property of the doer.
LAW ON COUNTERING TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS 2003
Article 1
(1) This Law shall provide for:
- The powers and objectives of the state authorities involved in combating trafficking in human beings, as well as the relations between them;
- The status and objectives of the shelters, centres and commissions established under this Act for protection and support of the victims of human trafficking;
- The measures to prevent and defy trafficking in human beings;
- The measures aimed at protecting and supporting the victims of human trafficking, especially women and children;
- Placing trafficking victims who collaborate with the investigation under special protection.
(2) This Act is intended to ensure co-operation and co-ordination between the bodies of state and the municipalities, as well as between them and the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with a view to preventing and defying trafficking in human beings, and developing the national policy in that area.
Additional provision
- 1. For the purpose of this Act:
- “Trafficking in human beings” means the recruitment, transportation, transfer, concealment or acceptance of human beings, regardless of their own will, by means of coercion, abduction, deprivation of liberty, fraud, abuse of power, abuse of a state of dependence, or by means of giving, receiving or promising benefits to obtain the consent of a person who has control over another person, when it is carried out for the purpose of exploitation;
- “Exploitation” means the illegal use of human beings for debauchery, removal of physical organs, forced labour, slavery or servitude;
3. The recruitment, transportation, transfer, concealment or acceptance of children for the purpose of exploitation shall be considered an act of trafficking in human beings, regardless of whether they have been carried out by the means in §1 above.
CONSTITUTION 1991
Article 46
1. Matrimony shall be a free union between a man and a woman. Only a civil marriage shall be legal.
2. Spouses shall have equal rights and obligations in matrimony and the family.
3. The form of a marriage, the conditions and procedure for its conclusion and termination, and all private and material relations between the spouses shall be established by law.
Constitution for Bulgaria 1991 – Constitute Project – English (PDF)
CRIMINAL CODE 1968
Article 176
(1) A person who, upon entering into marriage, consciously conceals from registrar of the civil status a legal obstacle to the marriage, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years.
(2) A registrar of the civil status who solemnises a marriage, being in the knowledge that there exists a legal obstacle to its conclusion, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years, and the court may also rule deprivation of the right under Article 37 (1), sub-paragraph 6 [deprivation of the right to hold a certain state or public office].
Article 177
(1) A person who has induced another in compulsory manner to enter in marriage, and therefore the marriage was proclaimed null and void, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years.
(2) A person who abducts a person of the female gender for the purpose of forcing her to enter into marriage, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years, and if the victim is not of full age, the punishment shall be imprisonment for up to five years.
Article 178
(1) A parent or another relative who receives compensation to permit his daughter or relative to conclude a marriage, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to one year or by a fine from BGN one hundred to three hundred, as well as by public censure.
(2) The same punishment shall also be imposed on a person who gives or mediates in the giving or receiving of such compensation.
Article 190
A person who through abuse of his parental power compels his child who has not yet completed 16 years of age, to start living as married with another, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to three years or by probation, as well as by public censure.
Article 191
(1) A person of full age who, without having concluded a marriage, starts living as man and wife with a person of the female gender, who has not completed 16 years of age, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years or by probation, as well as by public censure.
(2) An adult who persuades or facilitates an underage male and a female who have not completed 16 years of age, to start living as spouses, without concluding a marriage, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years or by probation.
(3) If the act under the preceding paragraphs has been committed with a person who has not completed 14 years of age, the punishment shall be imprisonment from two to five years.
(4) In the cases under paragraph (1) the perpetrator shall not be punished and the imposed punishment shall not be enforced, if prior to the enforcement of the sentence a marriage follows between the man and the woman.
Article 192
(1) A parent or another relative who receives compensation to permit his daughter or female relative, who has not completed 16 years of age, to start living as married with someone, shall be punished by imprisonment for up to two years or a fine from up to BGN 3,000.
(2) The same punishment shall also be imposed on a person who gives or mediates in the giving of such compensation.
FAMILY CODE
Article 2
Family relations shall be governed by the following principles:
1. protection by the state and society of marriage and the family;
2. equality of men and women;
3. voluntariness of the marriage union;
4. special protection of children;
5. equality of those born in marriage, out of wedlock and of adopted children;
6. respect for the person in the family;
Article 3
Every person has the right to marry and to have a family under the conditions laid down in this Code.
Article 5
The marriage shall be concluded by mutual, free and explicit consent of a man and a woman, given personally and simultaneously before the civil status official. 46(1) The marriage shall be destroyed when:
1. at its conclusion art. 6 and 7 ;
2. the consent for marriage has been given due to a threat with severe and forthcoming danger for the life, health or honor of the concluding marriage or of its relatives.
(2) No one may invoke the annulment of the marriage until it is ruled by the court. Article 47
(1) A claim for annulment of the marriage may be brought:
..
2. in the case under Art. 46, para. 1, item 2 – by the threatened spouse, not later than one year from the conclusion of the marriage;
3. in the case under art. 7, para. 1, item 1 – by each of the spouses, by the prosecutor and by the spouse from the first marriage;
4. in the cases under art. 7, para. 1, items 2 and 3 and para. 2 – by each of the spouses and by the prosecutor.
(2) In case of double marriage the marriage may not be annulled, if the previously concluded marriage is terminated.
(3) When the marriage is concluded in violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 1 , the spouse from the first marriage, the spouse from the annulled marriage, as well as the prosecutor may request to establish the existence of the grounds for annulment of the marriage even after the death of the spouse who has been in double marriage.
(4) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 2 the claim may be filed by the sick or forbidden spouse not later than 6 months from the recovery or from the revocation of the interdiction, and from the other spouse or from the prosecutor – until the recovery or revocation of the interdiction.
(5) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 3 the marriage cannot be annulled if the sick spouse has recovered.
(6) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 2, item 3 the marriage cannot be annulled if the adoption is terminated.
Article 6
6(1) A person who has reached the age of eighteen may enter into marriage.
(2) Exceptionally, if important reasons so require, a person who has reached the age of sixteen may also enter into marriage with the permission of the district judge at the permanent address of the person. If both marriages are minors and have a different permanent address, permission is given by the district judge at the address of one of the marriages of their choice.
(3) The district judge shall hear the two entering into marriage, the parents or the guardian of the minor. The opinion of the adult person entering into marriage, of the parents or of the guardian may also be given in writing with a notarized signature.
(4) With the marriage the juvenile shall become capable, but may dispose of real estate only with permission of the district judge at the permanent address of the juvenile. 46 (1) The marriage shall be destroyed when:
1. at its conclusion art. 6 and 7 ;
2. the consent for marriage has been given due to a threat with severe and forthcoming danger for the life, health or honor of the concluding marriage or of its relatives.
(2) No one may invoke the annulment of the marriage until it is ruled by the court. Article 47
(1) A claim for annulment of the marriage may be brought:
1. in case of violation of art. 6 – by the minor spouse, not later than 6 months from reaching the age of majority, if there are no children from the marriage and the wife is not pregnant;
2. in the case under Art. 46, para. 1, item 2 – by the threatened spouse, not later than one year from the conclusion of the marriage;
3. in the case under art. 7, para. 1, item 1 – by each of the spouses, by the prosecutor and by the spouse from the first marriage;
4. in the cases under art. 7, para. 1, items 2 and 3 and para. 2 – by each of the spouses and by the prosecutor.
(2) In case of double marriage the marriage may not be annulled, if the previously concluded marriage is terminated.
(3) When the marriage is concluded in violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 1 , the spouse from the first marriage, the spouse from the annulled marriage, as well as the prosecutor may request to establish the existence of the grounds for annulment of the marriage even after the death of the spouse who has been in double marriage.
(4) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 2 the claim may be filed by the sick or forbidden spouse not later than 6 months from the recovery or from the revocation of the interdiction, and from the other spouse or from the prosecutor – until the recovery or revocation of the interdiction.
(5) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 1, item 3 the marriage cannot be annulled if the sick spouse has recovered.
(6) In case of violation of art. 7, para. 2, item 3 the marriage cannot be annulled if the adoption is terminated.