Dignita Foundation published a new analysis aiming to inform institutions and civil society about the latest registered risks of exploitation for refugees displaced from Ukraine seeking work in the Bulgaria, which might hamper their successful economic and social integration. Ms. Kameliya Dimitrova, Dignita’s director, said to stakeholders at the launch event: “...no organisation or institution could single-handedly pave the way to the safety and integration of Ukrainian refugees in our country. For this, united and purposeful efforts are needed”.

The analysis highlights the following key risk indicators:

• Discrepancies between a role description and the actual role, or a lack of sufficient information to verify what is stated in the advert.
• A lack of information about the application procedure.
• Limited - or the complete absence of - information about the relevant contract.

Jobs were found to match the description given in their original advert in only 15% of the 74 advertisements checked. 'Dubious' adverts often contain no information at all about the application procedure - almost half fall into this category.

Risk indicators established in an earlier study - conducted in the autumn of 2022 - can be added to those above. These include:

• the requirement of a photo or personal documents/data (or not requiring any documents, not even a CV);
• a lack of information about the employer’s company;
• willingness to accept candidates without the necessary qualifications.

For many of the advertisements examined, the proportion of cases where there is no information about the documents required for application has increased dramatically since the last study. Among 'non-suspicious' adverts, the proportion of cases without this information increased from 17% to 48%, while among dubious adverts, 80% did not have information about the documents needed to apply, compared to 24% in the fall of 2022. In most advertisements checked in the summer of 2023, no information about the employer’s company could be found in the relevant advert or in the conversation with the listed contact. It is noteworthy that the share of cases without such information increases not only among questionable adverts (from 47% to 73%), but also among those which are non-suspicious (from 11% to 50%).