site.btaSofia City Hall's Plan to Open Centre for Unaccompanied Refugee Children Runs into Opposition, Mayor Reacts

Local people in Sofia’s Knyazhevo neighbourhood Wednesday evening protested against a July 25 decision of the Sofia Municipal Council to open a centre for unaccompanied refugee children in the old building housing the borough mayor’s office. The protest was organized by the Kniajevo Association.

Alexander Ivanov, a member of the Kniajevo Association's governing body, told BTA that the local authorities have not consulted with the local people before making the move.

"The place is not suitable for this purpose at all. This is not acceptable. Let them propose another place instead. This one is in the centre of the neighbourhood, we do not agree," he said.

In a Facebook post, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev asked how providing shelter and protection to 20 children poses an imminent threat to Sofia. In Terziev's words, what is happening is "a display of inhuman treatment of the unenviable fates of children” and "is playing on fears".

Terziev recalled that the Sofia Municipal Council had voted to establish two shelter homes in Sofia for a total of up to 20 refugee children aged three to 18 who are staying in Bulgaria without their parents. The initiative supported by Sofia Municipality comes as a result of a partnership between the State Agency for Refugees and UNICEF Bulgaria. The idea is to provide social care to the most vulnerable. The homes will be ready to be occupied in a year and a half or two.

In Terziev’s words, the centres have a limited capacity. One of them will accommodate up to 12 children and the other up to eight, with European funds being the source of funding over a two-and-a-half-year period. After this period, the shelter homes will be delegated to the State, like all social services and education. Sofia Municipality has no financial commitment to the projects, the Mayor added.