PRESS RELEASE

The Annual Report of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee:
Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2010 – considerable deterioration in almost all fields of protection

Sofia, 31 March 2011
A considerable increase of human rights abuses in Bulgaria was stated by the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) in its Annual Report on the condition of human rights in the country.

The Report was presented today at a special pressconference in Sofia. The BHC reported that the protection of human rights has deteriorated in many fields, and especially in the following areas: protection from interference with the right to privacy by arbitrary surveillance of telephone and electronic communications of private persons by the security services; the misuse of physical force, aiding devices and firearms by the police; independence of the judiciary; the right to a fair trial; and the rights of ethnic and religious minorities. Improvement is registered only in respect of the protection of the rights of children. Among the main issues that Bulgaria was facing in 2010, the BHC is most concerned with the following:

• Failure to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) – this remained a major issue of concern. In the end of 2010 Bulgaria was among the states with the lowest rate of implementation of ECHR decisions in Europe.
• Increase in the frequency of arbitrary use of special surveillance devices (SSD) by security services. The Special Surveillance Devices Act and the Criminal Procedure Code do not provide sufficient safeguards against arbitrary use of telephone and electronic communication surveillance and secret monitoring of other forms of private persons’ communication. The flaws in the legal framework of the use of SSD resulted in massive abuses of surveillance of citizens.
• 2010 was the seventh consecutive year in which the planned reforms of the Ministry of Interior Act failed to be realized – the act regulates the use of potentially lethal firearms during arrest of persons suspected of alleged minor criminal offenses. As the ECHR noted on several previous occasions in its decisions against Bulgaria – including 3 times in 2010 – this act contravenes international law standards relating to the protection of the right to life and the protection from inhuman and degrading treatment. During the same year the law enforcement agencies committed numerous violations of the law by using torture, inhuman and degrading treatment towards persons suspected of alleged crimes.
• Living conditions in many of the prisons and detention centers remained inhuman and degrading. The bad conditions within detention centers in particular posed an acute problem in 2010 as a result of the sharp increase of arrests during this year – the number of detainees in 2008/2009/2010 was accordingly 723/1087/1283.
• The judiciary was under attack by the high echelons of the Government.
• Seriously disturbing was the amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code that allowed for a criminal conviction to be based solely on SSD data and the testimony of a witness with protected identity.
• The position of the Protection against Discrimination Commission was threatened in Parliament by verbal attacks and the vote (which passed first reading) to reduce its number of commissioners from 9 to 7.
• 2010 passed without implementing the 2004 recommendation of the UN Committee Against Torture which prescribed that the crime of torture should be introduced into the Criminal Code.
• The restrictive and discriminatory Denominations Act is still in force. The application of this law resulted in grave violations of the religious rights of members of the Muslim community. The community was forced to accept new management, Muslim homes were searched on suspicions of alleged terrorist activities, and many mosques were attacked.
• The rights to free and peaceful assembly and association of certain ethnic and religious minorities was violated by the authorities.
• Disturbing was the start of a debate on the restriction of public access to the Trade Registry data.
• The legal safeguards of – and practical access to – asylum and international protection in Bulgaria fell considerably below standard. The access of persons seeking international protection in Bulgaria to basic procedural and social rights was reduced.
• Anther year passed with no steps taken towards the creation of a state-funded gender equality body.
• Bulgaria still remains among the states with no legislation in place to recognize civil partnership of same-sex couples.
• Investigation and conviction of hate crimes do not take into account discriminatory motives.
• No adequate judicial supervision exists of procedures for temporary protection and accommodation of minors, as well as of children victims of trafficking being housed in crisis centers. There is no judicial control over the placement of adults into social care homes.
• The abuse of the rights of persons living in institutions for adults with intellectual and mental health disabilities continues – these include inhuman treatment, over-medicalization, centralized placement system, lack of supervision of social services, arbitrary placement under guardianship.
• The rights of children was the only area of human rights protection which registered positive development. An important step forward was the adoption of a National Strategy for Deinstitutionalization of Children in Bulgaria. Following the inspections of all homes for children with mental disabilities in Bulgaria by the BHC and the Prosecution Service the Chief Prosecutor promised to initiate criminal proceedings on the 238 instances of child deaths, and on all the cases of abuse of other children, that were revealed in the BHC reports.

The present Report can bee found on the BHC’s designated website http://humanrightsbulgaria.wordpress.com/

For a specialised website dedicated by the BHC to its campaign for investigation of crimes committed in homes for children please see: http://forsakenchildren.bghelsinki.org/

For a specialised website dedicated by the BHC to its campaign against police violence please see: http://policebrutality.bghelsinki.org/

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The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organisation for the protection of human rights which was founded in 1992. The objectives of the committee are to monitor the protection of human rights in Bulgaria in the following target areas: the rights of women, of persons with mental disabilities, of ethnic and religious minorities, of children, protection from torture and ill-treatment, the rights of refugees and migrants, freedom of speech and free access to information, the rights of persons in penitentiary institutions, and issues of the criminal justice system.

BHC’s Annual Reports are published since 1993.

For further information please contact:
Ms. Yana Buhrer Tavanier, Campaigns and Communications Director, BHC
yana@bghelsinki.org, 0882823260

A video report, covering the release of the Annual Report of the BHC featuring interview with the Chair of the BHC Mr Krassimir Kanev can be seen here.