The new security challenges of corruption, terrorism, and organized crime are
now of concern to an increasing number of international institutions, particularly
in Europe. For several years now, CSD's European Program has focused its work
on the Bulgarian and Southeast European (SEE) perspective towards the changing
role of these institutions in the field of security. Combining policy dialogue,
expert analyses, and policy recommendations CSD has been trying to stay ahead
of developments of soft-security challenges.
I. Facilitating Policy Dialogue
In 2003, CSD started its series of annual security conferences focused on Southeast
Europe. Much remains to be done about the stability of the region and CSD is
providing a platform where government officials and independent experts could
hammer out the vision and the policies to sustain security. The public-private
format of the conferences
- attended by NATO's Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General, high ranking
officials from international and European institutions, SEE ministers of defense
and interior, NGO leaders
- is particularly appropriate to address non-traditional security challenges.
Corruption, smuggling and organized crime have been among the key issues discussed
at the conferences.
The second international security conference NATO, EU and the New Risks:
A Southeast Europe Perspective
was held on October 29-30, 2004 in Sofia with the participation of NATO Deputy
Secretary General and five SEE ministers of defense and interior. The conference,
jointly organized with NATO, the Norwegian government and the Bulgarian ministries
of defense, interior and foreign affairs, aimed to generate further substantial
debate on today's security situation in Southeast Europe. While focusing the
attention on the Western Balkans participants in the conference emphasized the
importance of continued assertive involvement of the international community,
particularly NATO and the EU. The forum was attended by more than a hundred
representatives of Bulgarian state institutions, NGOs and academics and around
50 journalists from the region. The event was reported in 30 articles published
in Bulgarian and foreign media.
In his keynote speech NATO's Deputy Secretary General, Ambassador Alessandro
Minuto Rizzo, stressed that security and stability in South East Europe is challenged
by organized crime, corruption, illegal migration, human trafficking and the
unlawful trade in small arms. As a result, there is also an increasing appreciation
of the significance of the rule of law for security and stability, a point argued
by CSD for some years.
Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD Chairman, opens the conference. Next to him:
Mr. Plamen Panayotov, Deputy Prime Minister of Bulgaria,
Amb. Alessandro Minuto Rizzo, NATO Deputy Secretary General and
Amb. Boyko Noev, CSD European Program Director
One of CSD's longest traditions is being the facilitator of discussions on
key policy issues on Bulgaria's Euro-Atlantic agenda. Throughout the year the
European Program organized a number of visits and lectures by foreign experts.
As part of its partnership with the US Embassy in Bulgaria the CSD continued
the series of lectures of experts on countering trans-border crime and the development
of the trans-Atlantic relations. In 2004 the Center hosted several lectures
of prominent experts from leading US media and academic institutions.
• The Philadelphia Inquirer reporter George Anastasia took part in a
discussion on the role of the media in the fight against organized crime
on September 29, 2004.
Mr. George Anastasia, Philadelphia Inquirer reporter (left) and
Mr. Boyko Todorov, CSD Program Director
CSD's European Program also aims to provide specific professional communities
in Bulgaria and Europe and the US. Particularly active this cooperation is with
the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, the Defense and Staff College
and the Military University. In 2004, CSD's European Program was both facilitating
the participation of defense officials in policy discussions with representatives
of foreign governments and international institutions, and providing the security
sector with specific training assistance.
As part of a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Defense, CSD organized
training seminars for lecturers at the National Defense University (NDU) faculties
and the Bulgarian Armed Forces officers aimed to enhance their capacity to deliver
anticorruption courses to NDU students and conscripts. The seminars were part
of a long-term anticorruption program for Bulgarian security officers, featuring
an exchange of experience between Bulgarian and foreign security experts. The
June seminar Countering the New Security Challenges: the Experience of Norway
and Bulgaria made a significant contribution in this regard. It included participants
from
the Norwegian Criminal Investigation Service (KRIPOS), the Norwegian Institute
of International Affairs (NUPI), the Bulgarian National Service for Combating
Organized Crime and the Ministry of Defense.
On 21-22 October 2004 CSD hosted an anti-corruption seminar for lecturers at
faculties of the National Defense University with the participation of experts
from the General Headquarters of the Bulgarian Armed Forces and the Ministry
of Defense. The seminar covered the following issues:
• Definitions, scope and forms of corruption.
• Corruption monitoring
• System of planning, programming and budgeting at the Ministry of Defense
• Countering corruption in the state administration
• Grey economy, contraband and corruption.
Ms. Signe Arnesen, Police Advisor, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
(NUPI) (left) and Mr. Jan Nybakk, Superintendent, Norwegian Criminal Investigation
Service (KRIPOS) (right) spoke at a CSD seminar Countering the New Security
Challenges: the Experience of Norway and Bulgaria in June
Combating Corruption in the State Administration and the Security Forces
Workshop,
December 16, 2004.
From left: Mr. David Wolstenholme, Pre-Accession Advisor, Ministry of Interior
of
Bulgaria, Mr. Lyubomir Robov, Deputy Director, Inspectorate Directorate, Ministry
of
Interior and Lieut. Gen. (ret.) Chavdar Chervenkov
During 2004 there was a marked increase in the interest among policy makers
and government experts in the countries of the Western Balkans towards Bulgaria's
experience in reforms, related to NATO and EU membership. To meet this interest,
CSD's European Program worked with officials from the Bulgarian Ministries of
Foreign Affairs, Interior and Defense to enable the transfer of their experience
to their counterparts in Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and other countries.
In December CSD jointly with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria organized
a workshop on Combating Corruption in the State Administration and the Security
Forces for more than 40 experts from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Defense,
Interior and Justice, form the Customs Administration and the Prosecutor's Offices
of Macedonia, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Romania and Bulgaria. The workshop
was held under the Memorandum for Cooperation in the Field of European and Euro-Atlantic
Integration between the Government of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Government
of the Republic of Macedonia, and in the context of the Adriatic Charter. Following
the opening remarks of Mr. Nikolay Milkov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
of Bulgaria, a series of lectures by Bulgarian and foreign experts was delivered
on various aspects of corruption, and the ways to prevent and counteract it.
II. Policy Studies
Organized Crime
Another area of work of the European program links the elaboration of innovative
methods of analysis of the new security risks and the consequences for the Euro-Atlantic
integration of Bulgaria. CSD remained the leading Bulgarian civil society institution
working on issues related to organized crime. With fighting organized crime
being a top-priority issue to the European Union, CSD experts remained important
source of knowledge and analysis for the Bulgarian government, foreign diplomats,
as well domestic and international media. CSD experts gave numerous private
and public briefings, interviews, and analyses on the issue. CSD experts also
participated in various international conferences and events on organized crime,
such as the 6th Colloquium on Cross-Border Crime: "Crime and Economy and
Crime Economy" in Berlin.
At the Berlin Colloquium, Senior Analyst Tihomir Bezlov presented the paper
Drug Market and Drug Trafficking in Bulgaria that was included
in a volume of selected colloquium papers. Following the 2003 publication The
Drug Market in Bulgaria, Tihomir Bezlov gave several lectures on the
drugs-related topics at the Ministry of Interior Police Academy and the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs' Diplomatic Institute. He was also the co-author, with Cas
Barendregt, of the report Injecting Drug Users in Bulgaria,
which was published in August by the Sofia-based Initiative for Health Foundation.
In
2004 the European program completed a study in the area of monitoring and prevention
of trafficking and corruption in Bulgaria. The main purpose of the study was
to highlight the risk areas for corruption in border and trade-control systems
and to make recommendations on improving them. The paper Transportation,
Smuggling and Organized Crime analyses the infrastructure of the organized
criminal groups involved in contraband practices and gives recommendations for
improvement of the institutional and interagency cooperation.
Public discussion Transportation, Smuggling, and Organized Crime (October
14, 2004)
From left: Mr. Assen Assenov, Director, Customs Agency, Mr. Roumen Stoilov,
Deputy Minister
of Interior, Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD Chairman, Mr. Boyko Todorov, CSD Program
Director and
Mr. Stamen Tassev, Deputy Minister of Finance
Of particular importance for the impact that the study made were the research
methods employed. The independent evaluation carried out by CSD researchers
of the border-crossings of Kulata, Kapitan Andreevo, and the Port of Varna was
based on interviews customs officers and border guards on border-security and
trafficking issues. Over 700 interviews were conducted with former and current
border-guards, customs officers, Mol and police officials, truck drivers, traffickers,
international consultants, and businesses. The report was presented at a public
discussion in October. The discussion triggered a significant media interest
and was ref-ereed to in more than 40 articles in local and international print
and electronic media.
SALW Control
The Center continued its cooperation with the UK based organization Saferworld
on issues related to the controls of small arms and light weapons (SALW). With
its work on two research projects on SALW issues during 2003 and 2004, CSD became
the leading civil society organization in Bulgaria working in the field of small
arms. As a result, in 2004 CSD experts were frequently invited as resource persons
to a number of discussions in Bulgaria as well as in the CIS countries.
Discussion on Small Arms Proliferation and Organized Crime in Bulgaria (April
5, 2004)
From left: Mr. Agron Sojati, Head of SALW Task Force, SECI Center, Gen. Roumen
Milanov,
NSCOC Director, Mr. Tihomir Bezlov, CSD Senior Analyst and Mr. Boyko Todorov,
CSD
Program Director
The
analysis Weapons under Scrutiny, developed in 2003 jointly with Saferworld
was presented to the public in April 2004. The work of CSD was aided by an expert
working group that involved representatives of the Ministry of Interior, the
Ministry of Economy,
the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Customs Agency,
academics and arms control experts. The report examined the Bulgarian arms export
control system and made a range of recommendations for the improvement of the
export control legislative framework, the structure of the controlling government
institutions.
Following the successful work on the issues of arms export controls, CSD and
Saferworld were commissioned by The South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for the
Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons (SEESAC) to write a SALW Survey of Bulgaria,
which had four major components:
• The Small Arms Distribution Survey included data on
the type, quantity, ownership, distribution and movement of SALW within the
country or the region;
• The Small Arms Impact Survey analyzed the impact of
SALW on different
members of the community and social and economic development;
• The Small Arms Perception Survey,
conducted by Vitosha Research, gathered qualitative information on the attitudes
of Bulgarians to SALW ownership, effects and usage and possible interventions;
• The Small Arms Capacity Survey
assessed the government's capacity to conduct an appropriate, safe, efficient
and effective SALW intervention.
As part of its work on the SALW surveys, CSD pioneered research on domestic
gun control and gun crime. CSD researchers worked closely with Ministry of Interior
agencies, such as the National Service for Combating Organized Crime (NSCOC),
on analyzing gun crime data. Preliminary research findings were presented by
Research Fellow Philip Gounev to an expert panel at a seminar, organized in
November by the Bulgarian Committee of the Red Cross. |