There were no significant changes in the state of human rights in Bulgaria during the year. That’s what he found in its report last year the United States Department of State.
Under significant problems human rights shall mean: torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by or on behalf of the government; serious problems with the independence of the judicial system; serious government corruption; crimes, violence or threats of violence motivated by anti-Semitism; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence directed at lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or intersex individuals.
The government is taking steps to identify and punish officials who who may have committed human rights violations, but these actions were often insufficient and impunity was a problem.
There is a report that an agent of the government may have committed an arbitrary or illegal extrajudicial killing. The non-governmental organization (NGO) Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHK) accused the Ministry of Internal Affairs of incompetence and a “flagrant violation of the law” when, on September 18, a police officer fired his personal weapon and killed a man who was fleeing from the police along with two others suspected of committing a series of street robberies. According to the chairman of the BHK, Krasimir Kanev, the police officer exceeded the law, which allows the use of weapons “only in case of extreme necessity”. On September 27, the Minister of Internal Affairs Kalin Stoyanov confirmed in a television interview that the ministry’s political and professional leadership “strongly supports” the official’s decision to used a firearm against “a person who, according to the evidence, has committed a serious premeditated crime such as robbery,” adding that the officer would be fined for using a personal weapon.
no messages for disappearances by or on behalf of state authorities.
The constitution and law prohibit such practices, but there are credible reports that government officials use them. The law prohibits punishment by physical suffering or humiliating treatment and requires law enforcement to respect the honor and dignity of citizens. In August, the National Assembly passed an amendment criminalizing the torture of suspected criminals to extract a confession.
There are credible reports that prison and police authorities subjected detainees to cruel and humiliating treatment in order to extract information, obtaining a confession or punishing persons for an alleged crime. BHC claims in its annual report on human rights practices that 27 percent of those deprived of liberty suffered violence during detention, and 24 percent were subjected to physical violence while in a police station. BHK claims that prison guards and police officers are rarely punished and notes a lack of convictions or sanctions for perpetrators.
The law grants workers the right to form and join independent trade unions, conduct collective bargaining and conduct legal strikes. The law prohibits union discrimination, provides for workers to receive up to six months’ wages as compensation for wrongful dismissal, and grants the employee the right to seek reinstatement upon such dismissal. Workers alleging discrimination based on union membership can file complaints with the Anti-Discrimination Commission. In July, the National Assembly criminalized violations of the right of association, providing for a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine. There were some limitations on these rights. The law prohibits employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the judiciary from being members of national trade union federations. When employers and unions reached a collective agreement at sectoral level, they had to obtain the consent of the Minister of Labor to extend it to cover all enterprises in the sector. The law prohibits most government employees from participating in collective bargaining. The law also prohibits strikes by employees of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the State Intelligence Agency, the National Protection Service, the courts, the prosecutor’s office and investigative bodies. These employees could take the government to court to ensure due process to protect their rights. The law grants the right to strike to other public service employees, except senior civil servants, if at least 50 percent of workers support the strike. The law also limited the ability of transport workers to organize their administrative activities and formulate their programs. Unions said the law’s restrictions on the right to strike and the lack of criminal liability for employers who abuse their workers’ right to association were unconstitutional. The government effectively enforces laws protecting workers’ freedom of association, collective bargaining and the right to strike. Penalties for violations of freedom of association, collective bargaining, and the right to strike were commensurate with or less than those for analogous crimes such as civil rights violations. Sanctions were regularly applied to offenders. Unions reported cases of employer interference, obstruction, harassment, intimidation and unequal treatment of union leaders and members. Unions have also accused some employers of negotiating terms similar to or better than those contained in the relevant collective agreement with non-union members in order to undermine unionism and discourage union membership.
The State Department pointed to Bulgaria’s old weaknesses
They are corruption, minorities and illegal arrests
