Non-discrimination

In general, anti-discrimination legislation in Bulgaria was up to standard and there was evidence of good practice; however, there were problems in terms of implementation, and some areas were still not fully covered by the legislation.

One such example was LGBTI rights, as civil society representatives reported that only one law, the Anti-discrimination Law, protected these rights. As a result, LGBTI people were denied several rights. For example, same-sex couples were not covered by domestic violence legislation, and Bulgarian law did not permit same-sex marriages or civil unions. Moreover, Bulgarian authorities and courts rarely recognised or sanctioned abuses or discrimination against LGBTI people. There had also been a strong backlash against the community in recent months, with hate speech present in the media and perpetuated by some public figures.

Although Bulgaria ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) in 2012, the requirements of the Convention were not being fulfilled. In Sofia, for example, the environment was completely inadequate for people with disabilities, and the situation was worse in small towns and villages.

The Roma minority was reported as being socially excluded, as although legislation in Bulgaria was comprehensive, in practice it was ineffective due to problems with the implementation. The exclusion of Roma communities in Bulgaria was visible in the case of housing (e.g. forced evictions), and the health sector (e.g. people lacked insurance or were discriminated against by the hospitals). Some progress had been made in the field of education, as school abandonment rates had dropped, and funding allocation had improved. However, no significant progress had been made in desegregating Roma schools. Moreover, Roma were underrepresented in public administration.

Since 2013 most Roma organisations had boycotted the main governmental advisory body for consultation with civil society, the National Council for Cooperation on Ethnic and Integration Issues (NCCEII), after their demand for a change in the institution’s membership had not been met.

Furthermore, hate speech against minorities by public figures and politicians was common in Bulgaria, with public authorities ignoring this phenomenon and even enabling it in some cases. For example, over the last year many hate crimes against Roma people had been reported; these complaints had been registered with the Prosecution Office, but almost none had been followed up.

The situation of women’s rights in Bulgaria was strongly criticised, particularly because in 2018 the Constitutional Court declared the Istanbul Convention to be unconstitutional. Serious concerns were also expressed about domestic violence, where policy and government measures were considered to be inadequate, especially since new legislation only criminalized repeated offences (requiring at least three acts of violence). Furthermore, the state kept no statistics regarding domestic violence and had too few centres for abused women.

With regard to the above, representatives of the Bulgarian public authorities pointed out that no EU Member State was entirely free of issues relating to discrimination against certain groups, be they LGBTI, Roma or other minorities. Furthermore, discrimination was expressly prohibited by the Constitution of Bulgaria, and a law had been passed that protected people against discrimination on the basis of 19 characteristics (race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, gender etc.). They also argued that all law enforcement institutions were doing what they were supposed to do and were simply applying the law. It was stressed that Bulgaria was one of the few countries that guaranteed equality between men and women. Furthermore, the Antidiscrimination Commission, which operated in Bulgaria as an independent state authority, monitored and investigated complaints and drafted actions plans and measures to be taken.