site.btaBulgaria's Human Rights Issues Remain Largely Unaddressed - Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Bulgaria's Human Rights Issues Remain Largely Unaddressed - Bulgarian Helsinki Committee

Sofia, March 26 (BTA) - In most sectors relating to human rights
in Bulgaria, the problems have persisted with systemic and
serious violations reported in some areas in 2014, the Bulgarian
Helsinki Committee said in its annual report. The report was
made public at a news briefing in Sofia Thursday.

It says that the worst and most large-scale violations concern
living conditions for, and the treatment of, institutionalized
children and prison inmates, including juveniles.

The rights of children in closed-type institutions are
frequently violated: children are often deprived of liberty
unlawfully, for long periods of time and in unacceptable living
conditions. In 2014, the BHC exposed large-scale practices of
abusive and violent treatment of children in correctional
establishments, as the violence often goes unreported because of
the lack of an adequate mechanism for that.

The BHC says that the number of inmates in Bulgarian prisons
increases, contrary to the claims of the power-holders.
"Overcrowding, old and inadequate living conditions, an outdated
penal policy and the absence of any policy whatsoever for
re-socialization and the high levels of corruption in the
administration in the majority of prisons remain the worst
problems of the [penitentiary] system," the report says.

It goes on to catalogue the independence of the judiciary and
discrimination against minority groups and foreigners among
issues that remain in the focus of human-rights watchdogs, as do
public incitement to hatred and discrimination of vulnerable
groups and hate crimes.

As in previous years, serious problems were observed with the
right to the religious freedom of Muslims and other
denominations, and with the freedom of the news media. "The
prosecution magistracy showed bias in its refusals to prosecute
duly, objectively and efficiently serious human rights
violations including hate crimes."

The report speaks of several "signature cases of cruel and
discriminatory treatment of women" and says that Bulgaria has
not yet signed and ratified the Council of Europe Convention on
Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic
Violence.

It mentions "a number of vicious decisions" by the Supreme
Administrative Court in its practice in respect of the
Protection against Discrimination Act.

The BHC recognizes some positive developments in the judicial
reform and the conditions for reception of asylum seekers in
Bulgaria.

In 2014, the State Agency for Refugees made considerable
improvements of living conditions in its refugee reception
facilities. It, however, failed to put forward a schedule of
long- and short-term measures to deal with a possible increase
of the refugee pressure or adopt an integration programme and
measures for initial integration. The push-back of
asylum-seekers, mostly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan,
remained widely used at the national land border, the BHC said.

"The participation of neototalitarian political formations in
the government hinders the implementation of adequate policies
in the area of human rights," said BHC Chairman Krassimir Kunev.