site.btaPensioner Organizations Renew Calls for Special Law for Older Persons and Pension Updating, and against Ratification of Istanbul Convention

Sofia, February 1 (BTA) - Organizations of pensioners renewed calls for adoption of a special law for older persons and updating of all pensions to ensure respectable living in old age. The demands were made public at a news conference in Sofia Wednesday by the Union of Pensioners 2004, the National Initiative for Social Solidarity and the National Association for Civil Society in Bulgaria.

Union of Pensioners 2004 leader Valentina Nikolova said that all pensions should be adjusted to the average contributory income for 2016 and that the 800 leva cap on old pensions should be removed. She further argued that it is imperative to adopt a special law on senior citizens in order to adequately protect pensioners' rights. Her organization says that pensioners' rights are not protected even after 10 years of membership in the EU.

The pensioners' organizations also said that they are against the ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (Istanbul Convention). Echoing an argument which many Bulgarians share, they said that "the rights of people of non-traditional moral are being ushered on the agenda instead of protecting the interests of the most vulnerable group in society: the elderly". The three organizations also see a threat for the Bulgarian society in the introduction of gender education in schools.

"If the aim of the Convention is to protect, there are enough laws for the protection of children and women against violence. Only they have to be enforced and we donТt need a convention for this," the pensioners said.