site.btaOmbudsman Receives Thousands of Complaints over Electricity, Water Shortage in 2024

More than 12,500 complaints from citizens and organizations about violated rights were received by the Ombudsman in 2024, the human rights institution said on Monday.

Traditionally, the largest number of complaints is in the consumer rights sector - over 4,700, more than half of whom reported problems with the electricity supply and the provision of water and sewerage services, most often related to power cuts, water regime, lack of water in general or its disproportionately high price at the expense of quality.

The number of complaints against banks and especially against fast loan companies was also serious - over 350, most often related to high service charges, excessive interest rates and unfair clauses.

Social rights, social security and benefits, labour rights, the right to health care, the right to education continue to be among the priority cases for the attention of the Ombudsman's experts in 2024, with more than 2,800 complaints on these topics for the year. Questions are frequently raised about the amount of the minimum pension (BGN 523.04 until 1 July 2024 and BGN 580.57 after that date), which, although above the national poverty line (BGN 526 from 1 January 2024), fails to overcome inflation.

A relatively high share of complaints, requests and alerts from employees related to non-payment of wages and benefits. 

Once again, health rights issues continued to be a focus of the national human rights defender's institution - citizens complained about difficulties in accessing primary outpatient care in small, remote and inaccessible settlements that are not visited by a general practitioner; difficulties in accessing emergency care, including cases of delay; difficulties in accessing medical devices and support for people with rare diseases. 

The number of complaints relating to disability rights violations remains traditionally high at over 800 for the whole of 2024. The main ones are related to problems in carrying out medical examinations of people with disabilities and significant delays in scheduling dates for certification/recertification of disability status papers. There were also continuing problems with the accessibility of the environment for people with disabilities, and with the conditions for opening and using social services.

The number of citizens' complaints and alerts to the Ombudsman on the protection of the right to property in its various aspects was also serious - more than 1,400 such complaints were received in 2024. The Ombudsman was also addressed by a large number of citizens, organized in initiative committees, who protest against violations of environmental legislation in the case of investment plans for the extraction of underground resources, against the seizure of agricultural land and pastures for energy facilities, and the location of harmful industries near settlements.

With regard to children's rights, in 2024 the institution of the public defender received over 550 complaints related to family environment and protection measures, children and the judicial system, protection from violence, the right to education of children with special needs, children with disabilities, etc. A special feature of complaints about children is that each one is strictly individual, as the complaints are most often from the child's parents, concern the environment in which the child develops, the school, the kindergarten, family relationships - parental disputes, etc. 

The work of the Ombudsman as a national preventive mechanism in 2024 also focused on improving conditions in detention facilities. A total of 32 inspections were carried out and more than 660 complaints concerning violations of fundamental rights and freedoms were addressed to the institution in the past year. Special attention was paid again to conditions in state psychiatric hospitals, again in relation to an incident involving a deceased patient.