MINELREL-L Archive (11061998-19:23:18-9441)

Roma in Bulgaria: HRP statement to the OSCE meeting


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Subject: Roma in Bulgaria: HRP statement to the OSCE meeting


From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>

Original sender: Human Rights Project <[email protected]>

Roma in Bulgaria: HRP statement to the OSCE meeting


STATEMENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT, BULGARIA, TO THE OSCE
IMPLEMENTATION MEETING ON HUMAN DIMENSION, OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 1998,
WARSAW
 
The Human Rights Project is an independent Roma rights advocacy
organization established in 1992 in Sofia. We monitor the human rights
situation of the Roma people in Bulgaria; report on ethnically
motivated violence and discrimination against Roma; provide legal aid
to victims of human rights violations and advocate observance of Roma
rights before the competent state institutions.
 
Over the years of its work, focusing on the defense of Roma rights in
Bulgaria, the Human Rights Project has sought adequate response from
the state to acts of human rights violations against Roma and has
addressed the competent institutions to guarantee that violence
against Roma should be curbed by the effective enforcement of the law.
We have reported hundreds of cases of ill-treatment of Roma by
law-enforcement officers as well as racist attacks on Roma, many of
which have been left without consideration by the respective
authorities. Regrettably, the Bulgarian state has failed to develop
and enforce the necessary mechanisms in order to counter the alarming
manifestations of intolerance and discriminatory treatment with
respect to Roma. While Bulgaria denounced the policy of the
totalitarian governments and took on the way of the democratic
development, it did little to comply with one of the basic principles
of this development, i.e. the promotion of cultural understanding and 
respect for the rights of the people belonging to minorities.
 
With the awareness that Roma people in Bulgaria remain the most
disadvantaged group as regards the enjoynment of their fundamental
rights and freedoms, and realizing that none of the Bulgarian
governments after 1989 had undertaken serious and long-term
initiatives to guarantee the equality of Roma as citizens of the state
and their adequate participation  in the political, socio-economic and
cultural processes of Bulgarian society, in the beginning of 1998 the
Human Rights Project initiated the drafting of a policy document about
the Roma community in Bulgaria that sets up the principles for a
comprehensive strategy of the state aimed at the solution of the Roma
problem in Bulgaria. The document entitled "For Equal Participation of
Roma in the Public Life of Bulgaria", proposes measures to be
undertaken by the Bulgarian government in order to gurantee the equal
status of Roma in different spheres of society: politics, economics,
education, culture and the media. It insists that the strategy for the
slolution of the Roma problem should indispensably commence from the
solution of the basic problem of the inequal treatment of Roma in
Bulgarian society. The core concept of the document is that
discrimination against Roma preconditions all the other problems that
are already known to the society and it states that the elimination of
the discrimination towards Roma should become one of the major
political priorities of the Bulgarian state.
 
The Program "For Equal Participation of Roma in the Public Life of
Bulgaria" was drafted by an expert team and after that submitted for
discussion to Roma organizations throughout the country. Its final
version compiles the ideas and proposals made by Roma community
members from all over the country and expresses their will for a
change in the governmental policy towards Roma. The appearance of this
document marks the first collaborative and coherent action of Roma
organizations in Bulgaria towards the accomplishment of a dialogue
with the Bulgarian government on its politics with respect to Roma.
The first stage of this dialogue took place during the National Round
Table, organized by the Human Rights Project on October 3, 1998 in
Sofia. This forum convened representatives of over 70 Roma
organizations throughout the country, officials from the Bulgarian
government, representatives of the Council of Europe and of the
European Roma Rights Center. Its purpose has been to declare the will
of the Roma community to be an active participant in the
decision-making processes of the state, concerning the situation of
Roma. At the Round Table the participants made an address to the
Bulgarian government insisting that it should consider their program
"For Equal Participation of Roma in the Public Life of Bulgaria" as a
basic document of the Roma community, the principles of which should
be incorporated in a National Program for the Roma People to be
endorsed by the government after close collaboration with
representatives of their as well as any other Roma organizations, who
are willing to contribute to this program.  The address of the
participants in the round table was accepted by the Deputy Prime
Minister, Mr. Vesselin Metodiev,  with a commitment to start the
process of preparation of a National Program for Roma involving a
large circle of Roma specialists and public figures.
 
The Human Rights Project expresses its belief that there is a good
will on part of the government to approach the issues raised in the
policy document presented by the Roma at the National Round Table with
due consideration of its obligations to the international agreements
for the protection of the fundamental rights and freedoms of the
citizens, and in particular of those belonging to different minority
groups. In this statement we want to point to following concerns that
we have:
 
- to date the Bulgarian state has not recognized discrimination of
Roma as being the foundation of all problems faced by this group
 
There is no expressed and definitive policy of the official
authorities to denounce discrimination against Roma and to ensure that
justice is promptly done. Combating the factual inequality of Roma as
citizens of Bulgaria remains a prerogative of the formations outside
the official institutions of the state. It will be an unfortunate fact
if this government, which has declared its resolution to adhere to the
principles of democracy, perpetuates the notorious old time definition
of the Roma problem as being of socio-economic nature and therefore
perpetuates the environment which ostracizes Roma.
 
- the public statements made by the state officials in the recent
months outline an agenda for integration of Roma through their
involvement in the different levels of the public administration
 
The position of the Human Rights Project is that the integration of
Roma in Bulgarian society cannot be limited to integration in the
political structures only. It has to be a global process, which
spreads to all spheres of social life. This process should not be
marked by the temporary partisan interests of one or another political
formation. Its progress should be encoded in the agenda of state and
made intact for the domination of one or another political party.
Moreover, to avoid the failures of the past, this government has to
implement mechanisms to neutralize the negative effects of past
discrimination of Roma and to guarantee emancipation of the people as
the condicio sine qua non for their integration.  In order to ensure
the successful integration of the Roma the Bulgarian state has to
first of all guarantee that Roma people are equally treated in society
and that discrimination against them is prevented by adequate
legislation and efficiently functioning state bodies.
 
Realizing the complexity of the Roma problem in Bulgaria and with the
awareness that the solution of this problem demands a national
strategy transcending the mandate of one or another government, the
Human Rights Project calls on the Bulgarian government to:
 
- ensure that the legislation of the state protects Roma people from
discrimination in all spheres: politics, labor, education, housing,
health care, and the media;
- amend the present criminal and civil laws by introducing texts,
which specifically counter racism;
- create state organs for the protection of the citizens from
discrimination on ethnic grounds;
- ensure that Roma regardless of their political affiliations
participate in the development and implementation of programs aimed at
providing guarantees for the real equality of the Roma.

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