site.btaBulgaria to Set up National Information System Covering Domestic Violence Cases

Bulgaria will set up a national Information System covering all cases of domestic violence and specifying who the victims were, the type of violence, what measures were taken and which institutions were responsible in each particular case, Deputy Justice Minister Emil Dechev said, emerging from Thursday's meeting at the Council of Ministers between Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and the representatives of several ministries on the subject of prevention of aggression and violence. 

The Justice Ministry was the leading institution in the drafting of the revisions to the Protection Against Domestic Violence Act which became effective of August 1. A case in point of these amendments was the establishment of a National Council for Prevention and Protection Against Domestic Violence, he recalled.

The Justice Ministry and the National Office for Legal Assistance have signed a Memorandum with the Interior Ministry and the colleges of lawyers in the country with the idea to promote coordination between institutions on the subject. According to the text of the document, any police officer in the country who receives a report of domestic violence is obliged to inform the victim that he or she can receive free legal assistance, which will be taken care of by lawyers on duty. Dechev stressed that 18 of the 28 colleges in the country have joined the initiative so far. 

"This year alone, the Ministry of Justice has allocated BGN 340,000 to 17 NGOs working in the field of prevention and protection from domestic violence," Dechev further announced. 

The measures were discussed before that at a meeting between Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov and representatives of the ministries of the interior, labour and social policy, justice and education and science.