The issues of justice and home affairs have dominated Bulgaria’s accession to the European Union. Among these, crime is arguably the most serious challenge. While rates of domestic conventional crime have fallen, a significant gap between reported and actual crime still exists. Organized crime is increasingly operating outside traditional black markets and into “greyer” areas and even branching out into the legal economy. Significantly, most of its profits are derived from cross border operations thus affecting the whole continent. As a result, criminal justice is increasingly a subject of European cooperation, both among governments and research institutes.

The Center for the Study of Democracy started its work in this area in the late 1990s. Since then, seeking to bridge research and policy agendas, the Center has focused in the following areas:

In late 2005, The Center helped the establishment of a National Crime Prevention Commission as a body of public-private cooperation in the development of effective policies. CSD’s contribution focuses on analyses of the trends in crime, study of unreported crime, relations between police and ethnic groups and other areas. more »

One of the most serious issues related to organized crime and corruption for Bulgaria, which is among CSD's focus areas, is drug trafficking. The Center is working on establishing partnerships between NGOs and law-enforcement institutions from Bulgaria, and the EU countries and the US in this area. In this context, CSD has co-organized a series of public discussions with British and Bulgarian experts in anti-drugs policy. more »

CSD has also developed a considerable research capacity to assess the development of trans-border crime and related corruption. The use of mirror statistics, analysis of the transportation infrastructure and other methods are used to understand the impact of cross border organized crime on the economy. more »

One of the most serious issues related to organized crime and corruption for Bulgaria, which is among CSD's focus areas, is drug trafficking. The Center is working on establishing partnerships between NGOs and law-enforcement institutions from Bulgaria, and the EU countries and the US in this area. In this context, CSD has co-organized a series of public discussions with British and Bulgarian experts in anti-drugs policy.

As part of this work the Center with the support of the British government implemented a project to evaluate the drugs consumption in Bulgaria. The national survey, carried out in November and December 2002, provides a broad picture of the drugs consumption in the country together with analyzing the various social, economic and demographic factors involved in substance abuse. The main purpose of the survey was to foster the cooperation between experts from state institutions and non-governmental organizations for joint efforts in countering drugs consumption and to contribute to the implementation of Bulgaria's National Anti-Drugs Strategy whose adoption is part of the process of the EU accession negotiations.

The results of the survey were presented at two public events which received a large media coverage: round table discusison Public-Private Partnerships in Preventing Drug Abuse and Trafficking with guest speaker HRH The Prince of Wales and bilateral conference Bulgaria-UK Anti-Drugs Programme under the auspices of the Prime Minister of Bulgaria.

The paper "Drugs Use and Abuse in Bulgaria", based on the findings of the working group on drugs consumption and the results of the first national representative survey will be printed out by the end of 2003.