site.btaCouncil of Europe Expresses Concern over Education Legislative Changes in Bulgaria

The Council of Europe’s Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) expressed concern on Wednesday about legislative changes adopted in Bulgaria last year related to sex education.

In a Council of Europe communication, related to the assessment of the implementation of previous recommendations, the ECRI noted concern about the August 2024 amendment to the Education Act, which prohibits any preschool and school activities related to “any propaganda and encouragement (…) of non-traditional sexual orientation and/or designation of gender identity other than biological”. This development shows that the 2022 key recommendation is even more relevant, the communication said.

One of the main recommendations to the Bulgarian authorities was to establish a working group to study discrimination against LGBTI people in order to develop a national strategy to combat intolerance towards them. This recommendation is reported to have not been implemented. The ECRI welcomes the amendments of 28 July 2023 to the Bulgarian Criminal Code, which added sexual orientation as an aggravating circumstance for violent crimes.

The second key recommendation to the Bulgarian authorities, to increase the number and scale up the successful work of Roma mediators in the fields of health, education and employment, has been implemented. The number of Roma mediators has increased since 2022 and the Bulgarian state budget includes funds to increase the salaries of Roma mediators in order to facilitate recruitment, the assessment added.