THE BULGARIAN RED CROSS intransient and contemporary

The Bulgarian Red Cross is a voluntary organisation, which is part of the International Red Cross Movement and is guided by its fundamental principles: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independance, voluntary service, unity and universality.

Through its network of volunteers throughout the country BRC supports vulnerable people in disastrous and critical situations. With its training programmes and activities for the benefits of the society it contributes to alleviate and prevent suffering in all of its forms, protects health and life and provides respect for human personality. ”I am honoured to ”I deeply believe in serve the cause the principles and of humanity in an values of the Red Cross Movement, to organisation of long which our organisa- history! I am proud, tion belongs, too. that I am part of the For more than 127 army of Red Cross years thousands workers, which of public figures, volunteers and pro- acts in the name of and for preserving fessionals have been working for it de- human dignity!” votedly in order to serve people. I feel privileged to be one of them!” Christo Grigorov Stoimenova M.D. President of BRC Director General of BRC

History and tradition

The first society of the Red Cross in was founded in 1878 in the City of . In 1884 the Bulgarian Government officially be- came party to the Geneva Convention of 1864 for improving the fate of wounded and sick soldiers during a military conflict. The National organisation was founded in 1885. With Prince Alexan- der Battenberg’s approval of the Statutes of the Bulgarian Red Cross society and its recognition by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Bulgarian Red Cross (BRC) became part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IRCRCM). The first active appearances of the Bulgarian Red Cross society were Bishop Serafim - the first president during the Serbo-Bulgarian War in 1885-1886, when it assisted for the exchange of prisoners of war and organized dressing stations for the wounded, thus being the fist one in the world to implement the Geneva Convention. The national society gradually extended its activity by providing aid for vic- tims of armed conflicts and natu- ral disasters at home and abroad: in 1900 it opened a school for nurses, founded the Red Cross Hospital; sent nursing missions outside the country; participated in the struggle against contagious diseases in Bulgaria. In 1921 BRC was accepted as a member of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and founded the Youth Red Cross Movement in Bulgaria; it organised the assistance to the Bul- garian refugees from the Thrace and Macedonia, to the starving population of the Volga River Valley (Russia), to the victims of the big earthquake in Southeast Bulgaria (1928). In 1937 it started Emergency Medical Aid and organised blood donations in this country; during World War II BRC volunteers and medical staff were at the front line, organised were hospitals and sanitary train, created was the Central Medical Squad; there began a mass training of the population for providing first medical aid. In 1947 the sanitary aviation was founded and in 1950 the Mountain Rescue Service (MRS) was transferred to BRC; in 1964 the Water Rescue Service (WRS) was founded etc. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

Today IRCRCM is the largest independent humanitarian organisation in the world with more than 120 millions of members and volunteers in 183 countries. It includes: • the International Committee of the Red Cross - its founder; • the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; • the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies ICRC was founded in 1863 at the idea of the Swiss humanist Henry Dunant and it is an independent, private humanitarian institution, which acts as a neutral mediator in situations of armed conflict. According to the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL), ICRC was granted a mandate by the member-countries of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 to provide protection and help to military and civilian victims of such conflicts. It is also authorised to offer its services in the event of domestic intestine wars or unrest; to visit and bring relief to persons, arrested for political reasons; to transmit informa- tion to the relatives of the victims of armed conflicts and to organise finding Henri Dunant them. The National Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, being official- ly recognised as volunteer organisations in the individual countries for aiding the needy ones, are members of the Inter- national Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC/RC), which was founded in Geneva in 1919. It encourages and assists the founda- tion and development of the National Societies in all countries, organises and coordinates the international aid for the victims of natural disasters and refu- gees outside the places of conflict and assists in the development of national disaster preparedness action plans. Since September 1994 the Federation has a status of a Permanent Observer at the General Assembly of UN. A recognition of the Movement’s hu- manitarian contribution worldwide are the awarded four Nobel Prizes. Emblem

The distinctive sign - Red Cross on a white back- ground, was initially created for a specific purpose: to provide protection for the wounded during military activities and for those, who cared for them during war times. Some Societies use red crescent, while the Federation - both signs. Currently the emblem has two major functions: protective one - during war and a distinctive one - in peace times, in order to inform about its belonging to the Movement. The use of the emblem is regulated by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Sup- plementary Protocols to them and in a special Regulation of 1991, adopted within the Movement.

Fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

• Humanity. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, which came to existence as a result of the desire to provide help to the wounded on the battle fields without any discrimination, through its international and national forms of manifestation strives for prevention and relief of human suffering in all circumstances. Its objective is to protect human lives and health, as well as to require respect towards human individuals. It assists in establishing mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace between all nations.

• Impartiality. The Movement does not demonstrate any preferences in respect to nationality, race, religion, social status or political beliefs. Its only aim is to help people depending on the degree of their suffering and to provide priority for those in gravest situation and need the fastest relief.

• Neutrality. In order to preserve everybody’s trust, the Movement cannot participate in any hostile activities and never enters into any disputes of political, racialist, religious or philosophical character.

• Independence. The Movement is independent. The National Societies, which are auxiliaries to the state authorities and their humanitarian activity and obeying the effective laws of the respective countries, must always keep their autonomy, so that they could act in accordance with the Movement’s principles at any time.

• Voluntary service. The Movement renders a voluntary and gratuitous assistance.

• Unity. There can exist only one Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in a country. It must be accessible to all and to extend its humane activity all over the country.

• Universality. The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a world Movement, where all Societies have equal rights and are obligated to mutually assist each other. The Organisation

The Bulgarian Red Cross is an au- tonomous organisation, which is auxiliary to the state in the humani- tarian sphere, in the preparation of actions during martial law, armed conflicts and disasters, for preserv- ing and strengthening the popula- tion’s health and for educating it in the spirit of high morals, compassion and charity (Art. 3, BRC Law). The first law on the Bulgarian Red Cross was adopted by the 37th Par- liament in 1995. The organisation is registered under the Law on legal entities for non-economic purposes as an association for performing activity, beneficial to the public. These two laws, together with the BRC’s Statutes, the Movement’s Statutes and the Statutes of IFRC/RC are the major normative acts, which regulate the rights and obligations of the national association as an unique voluntary organisa- tion, which assists the state in aiding people in need in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Supplementary Protocols to them of 1977.

BRC has a four-level organisational structure: • Association level - 122 175 members, organised in 2639 Chapters • Municipal level - 270 Municipal organisations • Regional, resp. Metropolitan level - 28 regional organisations • National level - General Assembly - Supreme organ of BRC - National Council - main executive and ruling body The organisation has full-time staff at national and regional level, which forms an administrative- executive body (the Secretariat)

Programmes for long term assistance by implementing the ”active community participation” approach Through spreading and implementing the par- ticipatory approach as a major organisational approach, BRC realises various programmes for assistance by encouraging the involvement of local communities in establishing sustain- able mechanisms for self-assistance through local resources mobilisation. Food banks The food bank is a well coordinated mecha- nism for gathering, storing and distribution of food to vulnerable people. The «Food bank» model stimulates volunteering and charity, creates partnerships and support within the community with own resources for a long time. The food banks in Pazardjik, , , and periodically provide food parcels to lonely elderly people and children from poor families.

National training centres and bases The organisation has at its disposal a National Training Centre and a solid warehousing base at Lozen, Water Rescue Training Centre at Sozopol, bases of the Mountain Rescue Service at Bansko, Pamporovo, Borovets etc. Social welfare and health activity

Milosardie Charity Fund Through the Milosardie Charity Fund, established in 1989, the organisation provides annual financial support to approximately 500 persons in a financially difficult situation. Food and humanitarian programmes Through these programmes the basic vital needs of the needy people are satisfied by provision of family food packages, various foodstuffs, hygienic materials, clothes, shoes etc. Thanks to the BRC soup-kitchens more than 600 poor citizens from various towns of the country are provided with warm lunch. Public social patronage Carried out mainly by BRC volunteers, this is one of the traditional activities of the organisation. Specially organ- ised volunteer teams make home visits to needy lonely and sick people and invalids and offer both warm human presence and food, medical supplies and services of social, administrative and domes- tic character. Social homes and day centres The organisation maintains 3 shelters for homeless children (in Rousse, Pazardjik and ) and 2 day centres for children at risk (in Rousse and Dobrich). In a social home and day centre for elderly people in Kurdjali is provided warm food, clothes, appropriate medical care and psychological support and conditions for cultural and labour therapy. The BRC hospice - with its characteristic two forms - hospital and home services, cares for terminally ill elderly patients from the City of Kurdjali. Home Care Programme There is a unified system for a provision of good quality specialised care and social services at the homes for eld- erly, chronically ill persons and persons with permanent damages. Five centres operate in the country, caring for about 300 patients - in Sofia, Lovech, Montana, и . These centres have created jobs for 50 persons from the Unemployment Offices, who, following a special training, obtained new qualification. A project for acquainting elderly people with their rights and authorisation for advocacy and lobbying before local and other institutions for the purpose of solving specific problems is being implemented in nine regions of the country. Professional training At the licensed National Centre for professional education at the village of Dolni Lozen, BRC carries out training for the profession of social worker in two specialities - ”Social services for children and families at risk” and ”Social services for children and families with chronic diseases, physical and sensor damages”. Two modules are developed for the second speciality - ”Home assistant, nurse and health attendant” and ”Social assistant”. Qualified lecturers provide quality training for all candidates at the specially equipped centre. Voluntary blood donation BRC popularised the gratuitous and voluntary character of blood donation in the country and assists the State’s efforts for ensuring sufficient blood and blood ingredients for the needs of healthcare. First pre-Medical aid Every year BRC trains more than 100 000 citizens from various age groups and professions to provide first aid. This is a big reserve of the state for adequate behaviour of the population in various disastrous situations, includ- ing road accidents. Health promotion Every year BRC provides materials with health informa- tion, organises lectures on current health topics for the purpose of promotion and prevention of the socially significant diseases, characteristic for the separate age groups. For 50 years BRC has been publishing the monthly magazine “Health” Disaster Preparedness and Response (DPR)

The Bulgarian Red Cross is the only non-gov- ernmental organisation, included in the na- tional plan and in the Standing Committee for protection of the population in the event of disasters, breakdowns and catastrophes under the Council of Ministers. The organisation has entered into Contracts and Agreements with State structures within the country and with Red Cross Societies abroad. It creates rescue teams and accumulates its own reserve and material base for joint actions for liquidating the consequences from disasters, breakdowns and catastrophes.

Mountain Rescue Service (MRS)

MRS is a specialised organisation within BRC whose major task is to provide as- sistance in the event of accidents in the mountains, as well as to assist in liquidat- ing the consequences from disasters and catastrophes. The MRS structures consist of 32 rescue teams in all sub-mountain settlements with over 650 volun- teers mountain rescuers.

BRC Water Rescue Service (W RS)

The BRC Water Rescue Service unites, coordinates and manages the efforts of various agencies to protect human lives in the event of water incidents.

WRS carries out preventive and di- rect lifeguard activ- ity, every year trains more than 700 water lifeguards and trains another about 100 000 persons, primarily children, in water lifeguard minimum, pro- vides methodological assistance and man- agement for the creation and functioning of Water Rescue Stations and posts around the water areas.

The BRC Water Rescue Service is member of the International Life Saving Federation (ILSF). International activity

The BRC international activity is directed towards increasing the organisation’s capacity for effective realisation of its mission through exchange of experience, good practices, attracting donations, ini- tiating innovatory pilot projects, assisting the development and successful imple- mentation of international programmes. Also realised are activities, related to trac- ing close relatives, separated as a result of war, natural disasters and other fac- tors, as well as related to disseminating the international humanitarian law. Over the last few years BRC not only receives international aid, but is also in the position to help people in need on other parts of the world by means of a direct relaying of its experience to other national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and fund raising campaigns on the occasion of big international catastrophes, which assist the IFRC/RC in its missions at the hottest points.

Refugee - Migrant Service

BRC is the largest and approved non-govern- mental organisation in the country, operating in the sphere of social protection and integra- tion of the refugees. Through its Refugee - Migrant Service BRC provides a wide scope of social services to foreigners with refugee status or under humanitarian protection.

Logistics and relief

BRC plays a key role in providing humani- tarian assistance to vulnerable groups by means of collecting donations and deliv- ering them to the people in need. Every year are processed donations in goods and foodstuffs for millions of Bulgarian Lev, which are stored at the Central Stor- age Base, inter-provincial and provincial warehouses and are provided to a large number of beneficiaries in response to their needs in the event of disasters, so- cial and economic hardships etc. Bulgarian Red Cross Youth (BRCY)

BRCY is a voluntary youth organisation, which is an integral part of the Bul- garian Red Cross and is member of the Interna- tional Red Cross Youth Movement. Young volunteers work in clubs, organised in educational institutions (schools, Univer- sities) at their domicile or according to their interests. 270 clubs are established in the country with more than 4500 mem- bers and volunteers of the organisation.

BRCY realises programmes for training, activities and services among the children and juveniles in the follow- ing areas of priority: • reduction of the social and health vulnerability of chil- dren; • first aid training; • prevention of sexual and drug addict risky behaviour; • health education; • dissemination the Red Cross Movement’s ideas and principles; • prevention of human traffic; • confining the spread of the worst forms of child la- bour; • advocacy for the children’s rights before social institu- tions etc.

Fund raising

BRC Care partners network is established in part- nership with big corporations, such as M-Tel, Metro Cash-and-Carry, the First Investment Bank, the Hilton Hotel Sofia, Publicis Mark Group, Ernst and Young. Joined marketing campaigns collect funds for reali- sation of programmes, which provide free of charge lunch to vulnerable children. Every year about 900 needy children from various regions of the country receive free of charge lunch every school day. Fund for aiding children, victims of road accidents was established by BRC, the Road Police under the Directorate of the National Police Service, the Bulgarian Professional Football League, the Bulgarian Football Un- ion, the Bulgarian Automotive Association and the Con- sultative Commission for Road Safety. With the funds, collected from a beneficial soccer match 32 children under the age of 18 having different degree of damages as a result of road accidents were aided. The Bulgarian Red Cross carries out its activity, fulfilling its major objective – to relieve and prevent human suffering through impartiality and neutrality, making no difference between nationality or race, gender, social status, religious or political beliefs. It is this impartiality and neutrality, which allows us to assist vulnerable people in difficult situations, to be autonomous and accessible to all. In order to be able to fulfil its mission BRC must have the support, sympathy and generosity of individuals and the society as a whole.

If you wish to learn more about BRC, to help, to join us by becoming a volunteer of the organisation, our coordinates are, as follows: http://www.redcross.bg/ BRC National Council: Sofia, 1407 James Boucher Blvd. ¹76, tel. +359 2 8164 700 Provincial Councils of BRC: Blagoevgrad 2700 Todor Alexandrov Street ¹44, tel. +359 73 885094 Bourgass 8000 Vazrajdane distr., block 7, P.O.Box 232, tel. +359 56 819041 Varna 9000 Bratya Shkorpil Street ¹3, tel. +359 52 612674 5000 Tsar Osvoboditel Street ¹1, tel. +359 62 620233 Vidin 3700 Knyaz Boris I Street ¹4, tel. +359 94 606095 3000 Col. Kethudov Street ¹44, P.O.Box 243, tel. +359 92 624747 Gabrovo 5300 Konstantin Irechek Street ¹3, tel. +359 66 803116 Dobrich 9300 Otec Paisiy Street ¹19, P.O.Box 121, tel.+359 58 602247 Kurdjali 6600 Otec Paisiy Street ¹9 block 1, tel. +359 361 61843 Kiustendil 2500 Stefan Karadja Street ¹25, tel. +359 78 550371 Lovech 5500 Otec Paisiy Street ¹8, tel. +359 68 603520 Montana 3400 Blvd. Graf Ignatiev ¹4, tel. +359 96 300116 Pazardjik 4400 Han Krum Street ¹11, tel. +359 34 445650 2300 Radomir Street ¹1, tel. +359 76 602665 5800 D. Konstantinov Street ¹23 А, tel. +359 64 801324 Plovdiv 4000 Krakra Street ¹6, tel. +359 32 622762 7200 Krakra Street ¹14, tel. +359 84 661255 Rousse 7020 Pliska Street ¹2, tel. +359 82 845424 7500 Blvd. Macedonia ¹131, tel. +359 86 823080 Sliven 8800 Gen. Stolipin Street ¹5, tel. +359 44 624133 4700 Blvd. Bulgaria ¹24-А, tel. +359 301 63297 Sofia region Sofia 1527, Blvd. Dondukov ¹61, tel. +359 2 8468527 Metropolitan Council Sofia 1303, Zona B5, block 8, entr. А, 18th fl., tel. +359 2 8122822 Stara Zagora 6000 Blvd. Russki ¹54, tel. +359 42 625209 7700 January 30th Street ¹3, tel. +359 601 63292 6300 Ilarion Makariopolski Street ¹2, tel. +359 38 624493 Shumen 9700 Tsar Osvoboditel Street ¹143, tel. +359 54 57336 8600 Dimitar Blagoev Street ¹1, P.O.Box 153, tel. +359 46 664424 Bank Accounts of the BRC National Council: BRC Humanitarian Programmes: BULBANK, Kaloyan Branch, IBAN numbers: in BGN: BG15 BFTB 7630 1000 0302 50; in USD: BG98 BFTB 7630 1100 0302 27 in EUR: BG09 BFTB 7630 1400 0302 28; in CHF: BG14 BFTB 7630 1300 0302 19 Milosardie Charity Fund: HVB Bank Boichim, Battenberg Branch in BGN: BG26 BACX 9660 1010 6880 21

This publication was realized with the financial assistance of the Spanish RED CROSS.