HUMAN Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organisation of the civil society for defending basic human rights in the Republic of RIGHTS Bulgaria established in 1992. Part of the committee’s work is the monitoring of the human rights situation in Bulgaria. BHC’s annual report is published since 1994. It is based on IN BULGARIA some of the most notable observations of the organisation’s team for the previous year. IN HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 1 HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organisation for the protection of human rights. It was founded on 14 July 1992. This report was produced as a result of monitoring activities carried out with the support of the Open Society Foundations, the Oak Foundation and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Human Rights in Bulgaria in 2018 Sofia, July 2019 The present report can be freely quoted upon acknowledgement of the source. Authors: Adela Kachaunova, Antoaneta Nenkova, Diana Dragieva, Dilyana Angelova, Iveta Savova, Iliana Savova, Krassimir Kanev, Nadezhda Tzekulova, Radoslav Stoyanov, Raya Raeva, Slavka Kukova, Stanimir Petrov, Yana Buhrer-Tavanier. English language editor: Desislava Simeonova Publisher: Bulgarian Helsinki Committee 7 Varbitsa Street 1504 Sofia Bulgaria Tel. +3592 944 0670, ++3592 483 6298 www.bghelsinki.org 2 HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AC Administrative Court APIA Access to Public Information Act ASA Amending and Supplementing Act BHC Bulgarian Helsinki Committee CBS Correctional Boarding School CC Constitutional Court CCCCIAP Commission on Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property CCCIAPA Combating Corruption and Confiscation of Illegally Acquired Property Act CEC Central Electoral Committee CJEU Court of Justice of the European Union CNS Family Housing Centre CPD Closed Prison Dormitory CPT European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment and Punishment CRPD United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities DC District court DGEP Directorate General for Execution of Penalties EC European Commission ECHR European Convention on Human Rights ECtHR European Court of Human Rights EPDRA Execution of Punishments and Detention on Remand Act EU European Union HADD Home for Adults with Developmental Disabilities HAMD Home for Adults with Mental Disorders HRC United Nations Committee on Human Rights HTPMA Home for Temporary Placement of Minors and Adolescents IADD Institution for Adults with Developmental Disabilities IAMD Institution for Adults with Mental Disorders ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ICDD Institution for Children with Developmental Disabilities ICDPC Institution for Children Deprived of Parental Care IMSCC Institution for Medical and Social Care for Children ISJC Inspectorate to the Supreme Judicial Council JDA Juvenile Delinquency Act LGBTI Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex People MH Ministry of Health MIA Ministry of the Interior Act MLSP Ministry of Labour and Social Policy MPA Municipal Property Act NBCSSM National Bureau for Control on Special Surveillance Means NHIF National Health Insurance Fund OPD Open Prison Dormitory HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 3 PADA Protection against Discrimination Act RDA Religious Denominations Act SAA Social Assistance Agency SAC Supreme Administrative Court SAC Sofia Area Court SAD Social Assistance Directorate SANS State Agency for National Security SAR State Agency for Refugees SBS Social and Pedagogical Boarding School SCAC Sofia City Administrative Court SCC Supreme Cassation Court SCC Sofia City Court SCIS State Commission on Information Security SCPO Supreme Cassation Prosecutor’s Office SHTAF Special Home for Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners SPA State Property Act SPLA Spatial Planning Act UN United Nations UNCRPD United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 4 HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 Chapter 1. POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 Throughout 2018, Bulgaria was governed by the coalition government of the pro-European centre-right Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) and the United Patriots. The latter are a coalition of three small extremely nationalist neo-totalitarian parties: Ataka, National Front for the Salvation of Bulgaria (NFSB) and Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization – Bulgarian National Movement (VMRO-BND). These three parties are publicly known for systematically instigating hate, discrimination and violence against the Roma, Muslims, migrants and the LGBTI communities. The government was formed after the March 2017 elections. Despite the fact that the two coalition partners have a stable parliamentary majority, internal contradictions and differences in the foreign policy positions of the nationalist coalition sometimes required the larger collation partner, GERB, to resort to support from the opposition. The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) was the largest of the latter. The mid-2016 leadership change in this political party resulted in a serious ideological re-orientation towards conservative and anti-European policies, which led to several conflicts with the Party of European Socialists (PES). The other two parliamentary parties that did not take part in government were the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS) and Volya. The former is a centrist party traditionally supported by the Turkish and Roma minorities. The latter is a populist party, which at the end of 2018 became an official partner of Marine Le Pen’s National Rally. As a whole, the capacity of both the ruling and the opposition parties to discuss and solve serious human rights issues in Bulgaria was at a record low in 2018. This, however, did not result in significant negative legislative changes in the first half of the year, when Bulgaria took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union. Certain negative trends emerged in the second half of the year. Racist and xenophobic instigations, targeted mostly at the Roma and muffled during the presidency, proliferated at the end of 2018. The parties from the United Patriots coalition, and more notably VMRO-BND, were the main source of origin. In mid- November, NFSB chair Valeri Simeonov resigned as deputy prime minister after weeks of protests organised by parents of disabled children in connection with defamatory comments he had made about them and their children in October. The judiciary failed to serve as a corrector of negative trends in the field of human rights in 2018. This became especially evident in the Constitutional Court decision of 27 July 2018, in which the court found the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (the Istanbul Convention) inconsistent with the Bulgarian Constitution. This unjustified decision followed a campaign of lies and manipulations against this international treaty organized by conservative political and social circles in the course of several months.1 With this decision, the Constitutional Court, which on many past occasions had demonstrated a lack of capacity to discuss human rights, showed not only that it had failed to understand the very essence of the Istanbul Convention, but also that it succumbed to populist attitudes. 1 See Chapter 14, Women‘s Rights. HUMAN RIGHTS IN BULGARIA IN 2018 5 Chapter 2. COOPERATION WITH INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS In 2018, two United Nations bodies – the Human Rights Committee (HRC) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) – reviewed the periodical reports on Bulgaria with regard to the implementation of the obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). The review of Bulgaria’s obligations under ICCPR was carried out on 16 and 17 October 2018 in Geneva. HRC formulated its recommendations on 15 November 2018. The Committee established a series of issues with regard to the implementation of the Covenant’s provisions and formulated a substantial number of recommendations. The more important ones include: • With respect to the many cases of hate crimes and hate speech against Roma, religious minority representatives, LGBTI, migrants and other groups, the Committee recommends to amend the Criminal Code and the Radio and Television Act to explicitly include sexual orientation and gender identity as hate motives and grounds of discrimination. The Committee recommends that existing criminal provisions be effectively enforced in order to ensure that such crimes are prosecuted and punished with appropriate sanctions. • The Committee expresses concern that same-sex couples cannot enter into any form of legally recognised union, and recommends that any discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is eliminated, including by amending the Protection against Discrimination Act (PADA) and other laws. • The Committee recommends to step up combating discrimination against the Roma in the areas of housing, education, healthcare and employment. More specifically, it recommends to amend the Spatial Development Act (SDA) as to introduce the principle of proportionality in the demolition of illegal structures and to avoid forced evictions. • The Committee expresses concern with the delayed legislative reform with regard to the deprivation