Bulgaria Government

In spite of the transition to a new government in July 2001, Bulgaria remained committed to the market reforms undertaken in 1997. The government's economic team of young, Western-educated financiers continued to implement measures that helped sustain stable economic growth and curb unemployment. The government was expecting a record-high GDP growth of 5.8% in 2004, following GDP growth of 4.9% and 4.3% in 2002 and 2003, respectively. As a result of these moves, in October 2002 the European Commission declared Bulgaria had a "Functioning Market Economy." Recent measures introduced by Simeon Saxe-Coburg’s government were targeted at reducing corporate and individual taxes, curtailing corruption, and attracting foreign investment. The government also implemented a set of measures that helped restructure the country’s foreign debt and revive the local stock market. It also moved ahead with long-delayed privatization of some of the major state monopolies. But while macroeconomic data revea ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were problems in several areas. Members of the security forces were responsible for one killing during the year. Security forces commonly beat suspects and inmates and beat and mistreated minorities. Arbitrary arrest and detention were problems. Security forces harassed, physically abused, and arbitrarily arrested and detained Romani street children. Problems of accountability persisted and inhibited government attempts to address police abuses. Conditions in many prisons and detention facilities were harsh. There remained some instances of prolonged pretrial detention, although the Government continued to improve its performance in preventing periods of pretrial detention from exceeding the statutory limit of 1 year. The judiciary was underpaid, understaffed, and had a heavy case backlog; corruption of the judiciary was a serious problem. The Government infringed on citizens' privacy right ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

Corruption remains an important concern of the Government.  The Commission for Coordinating of the Activity for Combating Corruption manages the efforts of each government agency’s internal inspectorate in fighting public corruption and engages in public awareness campaigns.  Complaints of public corruption can be made to it at the at the Ministry of Justice, 2A Knyaz Dondukov Blvd., 1055 Sofia, Bulgaria, E-mail: acc@government.bg 359 2 980 9213, 359 2 923 7595, 359 2 940 3630, or to the Ministry of Finance hotline: 0800180018. ... [Read More]

V. Country Narratives -- Countries A through G

Cyprus is a destination country for women trafficked from Eastern and Central Europe for the purpose of sexual exploitation. Traffickers who forced women into prostitution continued to fraudulently recruit victims for work as dancers in cabarets and nightclubs on short-term "artiste" visas, for work in pubs and bars on employment visas, or for illegal work on tourist or student visas. There was increasing evidence of Chinese women being trafficked for sexual exploitation in Cyprus. The Government of Cyprus does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so. Cyprus made some progress in its anti-trafficking efforts over the past year. The new police anti-trafficking unit produced successful results and showed vigilance in combating the problem. Government recognition of the problem improve ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

The Government generally has encouraged greater religious tolerance since early 1998 by generally seeking to promote greater understanding among different faiths. However, while the observance of religious freedom has improved for some nontraditional groups, other groups have faced official disfavor and been disadvantaged by the Government's persistent refusal to grant registration. Other church groups have obtained registration from the national Government, but continued to face some discrimination and antipathy from many local governments. The national Government has on some occasions, but not systematically, stopped local governments from enforcing restrictive municipal government decisions, which appear to fall into a gray area of the law. Burgas, Plovdiv, and Stara Zagora are among the municipalities that have reported the greatest number of complaints of harassment of nontraditional religious groups. Some observers note with concern a tendency by certain municipalities to enact p ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

The Law on Refugees and Asylum provides for the granting of refugee status or asylum to persons who meet the definition in the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. In practice, the Government provided some protection against refoulement and granted refugee status and asylum ("humanitarian status"). However, NGOs, including the BHC, expressed concern over the Government's handling of claims for refugee and humanitarian status and reported that there may have been cases in which bona fide refugees were turned away at the border. In September, police detained a group of Christian asylum-seekers from Iran. The Agency for Refugees did not get involved and the police turned them over to the Iranian Embassy in Sofia, which subsequently arranged for their return to Iran. The Government cooperated with the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations in assisting refugees and asylum seekers. The Government ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

Legal/Policy FrameworkThe Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government restricts this right in practice for some non-Orthodox religious groups. The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the "traditional" religion. The Government provides financial support for the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as for several other religious communities perceived as holding historic places in society, such as the Muslim, Roman Catholic, and Jewish faiths, which also are considered "traditional." These groups generally benefit from a relatively high degree of governmental and societal tolerance. A new law on religion, known as the Confessions Act, was approved by Parliament on December 22, 2002. It entered into force 1 week later, replacing an outdated religion law dating back to 1949. Religious and human rights ... [Read More]

Bulgaria

The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and of the press; however, the Government exerted undue influence on the media. A variety of media outlets present a broad spectrum of opinion; however, libel is punishable under the criminal code, and journalists issued public statements of protest against government interference in state-owned radio during the year. The Government exerted undue influence on the media during the year via official channels such as the National Council for Radio and Television (NCRT), a quasi-governmental body that oversees national media and regulates private broadcasters, and through less direct means such as steering advertising revenue away from media outlets that are critical of government policies. In the past, surveys have shown that significant numbers of journalists feel constrained in their reporting because of government influence, but data on the situation under the Government elected during the year was not available. Previously, one-third of ... [Read More]

International Adoption Bulgaria

http://www.mjeli.government.bg/ (Bulgarian only) ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Prospective adoptive parents may be married or single. Adoptive parents must be at least fifteen years older than their adoptive children, but no more than forty-five years older.  There are no Bulgarian age minimums or maximums; prospective adoptive parents are expected to comply with their home government’s age requirements (For the U.S. prospective adoptive parents must be at least 25 years old; there are no age maximums).  [Read More]

IV. Country Narratives: Europe and Eurasia

High-level government officials addressed the issue of trafficking in the media, but the government did not authorize budgetary allocations for prevention programs. Moreover, it did not focus prevention activities toward vulnerable categories, such as educated women between 18-34, orphans, street children, and foreign laborers. President Putin drew public attention to the problem of trafficking and its nexus with organized crime during nationwide addresses. In April 2004, the government announced formation of a central government authority to coordinate implementation of anti-trafficking policies. The government hosted a national NGO conference that garnered widespread media attention. Local government cooperation with NGOs continued, and an estimated 30% of NGOs reported receiving some local government financial or in-kind support for anti-trafficking projects. One regional government collaborated with an anti-trafficking NGO to produce a list of guidelines for Ministry of Int ... [Read More]