A/HRC/43/40/Add.1 had been issued for cohabitation with a person under the age of 14 years, of which 63 had been suspended. According to the National Statistical Institute, there had been only 14 sentences for crimes “against marriage and family” in 2017, a figure that also included crimes such as the sale of babies and bigamy. The Special Rapporteur was told that out of 125 cases investigated, no convictions had been handed down in 2018. 4. International commercial surrogacy arrangements 17. Systematic information on the prevalence of surrogacy arrangements, whether domestic or international, is not gathered in Bulgaria. The topic of surrogate motherhood is still taboo and opinions are strongly polarized. All forms of commercial and altruistic surrogacy are prohibited, though foreign surrogacy is possible by circumventing domestic legislation. The lack of a regulatory framework leaves the recognition of parenthood open and dependent on foreign legislation. 18. Furthermore, the rapidly increasing number of private clinics, the lack of institutional control and the financial incentives related to surrogacy lead to hidden practices, such as forcing minors (between the ages of 14 and 18 years, primarily from disadvantaged background) into repeated surrogate motherhood and egg donation, with considerable health risks. Complications are neither handled properly nor reported and financial support for surrogate mothers is not provided. B. Sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of children 19. Although the information received is fragmented and anecdotal and data diverging, the evidence gathered from child protection stakeholders demonstrates that child sexual exploitation, including sexual abuse within the inner circle of trust and at a residential institution, 8 is real and extensive in Bulgaria, and believed to be most prevalent among children belonging to marginalized communities. The extent of child prostitution is unknown, given the lack of comprehensive, systematically collected, reliable and disaggregated data on the number of investigations and prosecutions undertaken. Further, there is no formal mechanism to identify child victims of prostitution. Data is based on statistics regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children, together with statistics regarding children exploited in prostitution when placed in education facilities only. According to UNICEF, the child protection system received approximately 3,000 reports of violence in 2015, although many cases are presumed not to have been reported.9 According to the National Programme for the Prevention of Violence against and Abuse of Children, there were 23 child victims of rape or attempted rape in institutions in 2016. However, these data are incomplete, as many cases are not reported owing to the stigma surrounding the issue of sexual abuse of children and the fact that it is largely regarded as a private family matter. The culture of silence further inhibits reporting. Furthermore, some cases may reach the police but not child protection units, owing to the lack of communication among entities and different methodologies of gathering information. 1. Trafficking for the purposes of sexual and labour exploitation 20. Bulgaria remains one of the primary source countries of human trafficking in the European Union, including trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation (see CAT/C/BGR/CO/6 and CCPR/C/BGR/CO/4). It is a source and, to a lesser extent, transit and destination country for people subjected to sex trafficking and forced labour. There has been a significant increase in the number of Bulgarian and Roma victims who are exploited into domestic servitude, forced labour, begging and pickpocketing. Bulgarians of Turkish ethnicity and Roma girls, some as young as 13 years old, account for most sex trafficking victims identified, particularly in the capital, resort areas and border towns. Boys are 8 9 See European Court of Human Rights, Case of A. and Others v. Bulgaria, Application No. 51776/08, Judgment, 29 November 2011; and European Court of Human Rights, Case of D.L. v. Bulgaria, Application No. 7472/14, 19 May 2016. UNICEF, Situation Analysis of Children and Women in Bulgaria. 5