Bulgaria

Even though Bulgaria demonstrates continual growth, it remains one of the poorest countries in Central and Eastern Europe. People living in poverty, using an index of living at or under $2 a day, are 6.4 percent or 492,800 of a population of 7.7 million. There is an overall poverty reduction, however pockets of poverty persist among certain groups, particularly the unemployed, the ethnic minorities (mainly the Roma), large households, and households in rural areas.

One of the unique challenges of the region is harsh climate conditions which make warm clothing and heating essential for survival. Also, with rapid aging populations—growth rate is negative 0.3 percent—it’s becoming more difficult for the younger population to support the poor. Aside from income, progress in factors contributing to poverty such as access to education, healthcare, safe water, and heating, remains mixed. Neglected maintenance and subsequent erosion of infrastructure networks have taken a toll on access and quality of infrastructure services, in particular water and heating.

Unemployment rates in the nation are at 13.7 percent of the total labor force, while in the rural areas it’s as high as 25.6 percent, causing greater poverty. Of the country’s territory, 81 percent are rural and inhabited by 42 percent of the population. Agriculture is the main source of employment in rural areas, employing 25 percent of the national labor force. Despite previous high standards of living in rural areas, in the last decade they have faced declines in outputs, and living conditions have deteriorated.

Ethnic groups, such as the Roma face certain disadvantages that make them vulnerable to poverty. Nearly 90 percent of the Roma only finish primary education and few speak Bulgarian. Those that do enroll in secondary school mostly never graduate. As a consequence, most are out of work and their limited education, language barriers, and the isolation of the communities severely limit their options. One practice that demonstrates minority disadvantage is the placement of healthy Roma children in schools for the mentally and physically disabled.

People with mental disabilities receive abusive treatment and live in unsuitable conditions in social care homes. The placement process for adults in mental institutions offers little protection from arbitrary detention. Also, people with different needs are placed in the same institutions, such as people with mental illnesses with people have mental challenges. This has led to untrained staff unable to provide proper care or even safety from violence and sexual abuse. The limited staff has resulted in cases of continual abuse of patients by other patients, in some instances resulting in death. Other than drugs, patients are not given treatment or rehabilitation. Instead of treating patients, they are secluded and restrained. For instance, one child had a hand amputated after staff repeatedly tied him down to control his cerebral palsy, and women with mental disabilities were found in cages. Although there have been repercussions for the staff involved in severe abuse, the government has shown little will in changing the conditions of social care homes, or fighting the stigmas of mental disabilities.

The police force has reportedly been involved in cases of torture and abuse. During interrogations, suspects were denied access to lawyers, family, or medical care. In some cases, confessions were obtained through beatings sometimes using cables or batons. Impunity on behalf of the police has been obtained through failing to correctly register arrest, and investigations into abuse are often times partial. Furthermore, there are allegations that police have used their firearms unlawfully, or that didn’t meet with human rights standards for the proper use of firearms.

There is also a presence of discrimination based on ethnicity. Most notably, the Roma community has reported abuse from the police even when there was no crime committed. Claims include abuse with weapons such as batons, injuries with rubber bullets, and beatings with rifles. Medical examinations of the victims confirm their allegations.

Other human rights violations include domestic violence against women. In general, this issue is considered a private problem, where officials see no need to interfere. This has led to a lack of protective laws or other forms of support networks for women. Even though there is little statistical information on the frequency of domestic violence, local NGOs confirm that it’s a prevalent problem.

HIV and AIDS have a low prevalence in Bulgaria with less than one percent infected in the 15-49 age range bracket. The latest official numbers of people infected with HIV are 598, and 167 with AIDS. These numbers don’t provide an unofficial projection of people who are unaware they are infected, or who know but have not sought care. However, the population of HIV carriers has been on the rise in the past decade.

Of the cases reported, the primary forms of transmission were sexual intercourse at 91 percent, drug use followed at 4.1 percent, and blood transfusion at 3.7 percent. The risks of infection fall higher on three groups: drug users, the Roma, and sex workers. Even though their numbers are low (0.59, 0.30, and 0.73 percent respectively), based on the incidence of hepatitis C and syphilis among these groups, they are especially vulnerable to HIV.

The government has taken action by allocating $15.7 million for prevention and treatment. Part of their plan consists of ensuring blood safety, providing free testing and antiretroviral treatment, and monitoring HIV positive patients. Among the greatest challenges faced are low involvement of other sectors of the country, lack of focus on at-risk-populations, high prices of treatments, and inflexible distribution of funds to regional and community levels.

Tuberculosis is also a major infectious disease the country is fighting. The latest information shows 3,711 people living with TB. There is little information on the success of its programs.

Bulgaria faces a major air pollution problem. Its industry and transportation carbon dioxide emissions have place Bulgaria on the top 50 list of highest air polluters. Air pollutants have also led to significant harm to the country’s forests, where up to twenty-five percent has been damaged solely from air pollution. Since on 4.5 percent of the total land is protected, it lends little hope for forest renovations. Today, up to two-thirds of the country’s forests have been hurt.

Furthermore, the country’s rivers and the Black sea are heavily contaminated with chemicals and industrial pollutants, raw sewage, heavy metals, and detergents. Among the industries, metallurgical plants have been produced so many industrial pollutants to the point where they have damaged over 115 sq miles of land. Its previous focus on agriculture also led to extensive use of pesticides and fertilizers polluting 60 percent of farm land.

Due to unemployment and weak administration, clean up efforts and acquiescence to cleaner production regulations have been low.

Even though Bulgaria has 98-99 percent literacy rates and continual progress in education, there are still gaps with other European countries. Recent trends show that quality and participation in education need improvement. Access to good education is disparate, especially in low income groups, people who live in rural areas, and ethnic minorities. 60 percent of the un-enrolled are from poor families. Nearly 90 percent of the Roma only finish primary education and few speak Bulgarian. Approximately 1 percent have a higher education, and the few who enroll in secondary school mostly never graduate. Un-enrolled students may also face transportation issues, meals, fees and buying textbooks.

With a decreasing population, there is also greater demand for higher education to fill jobs involving skilled labor and the education provided is not in tuned with employment needs. In higher education people enrolled in mathematics, sciences and computing is 5 percent, while in the European Union it’s 11 percent.

The Human Dimension - Seek to encourage the protection and promotion of human rights of children, women, prisoners and ethnic minorities. To enable the above mentioned categories to reach their full potential through education and cooperation. To introduce proposals for legal reform where necessary to the Bulgarian Legislative body The National Assembly. To work for international cooperation in the areas of prenatal care, education of children, women, prisoners and ethnic minorities through exchange of information, joint programs and projects and visits. To provide these groups with computer skills and help them put in practice the knowledge received through advanced technologies.

Way For Humanity Foundation - NGO founded in 1998 whose goals are 1) providing assisting to Bulgarian education, culture and art, 2) protecting human rights, 3) promoting free market economy and civil society values in the age of information technologies, 4) participation in European partnership cooperation and in Atlantic partnership cooperation, 5) helping Bulgarian health care and services, and 6) launching various civic initiatives.

United Nations Association of Bulgari - Seeks to unite the Bulgarian Society in support of the aims and principles of the UN Statute for sustain the world peace and security, for adhering the basic human rights and freedoms; to stimulate Bulgarian youth to learn in the name of the new culture of peace.

Life and Justice Foundation of Bulgaria - The main purpose of this project is to support the social adaptation of unemployed people, young families with little children and low incomes, unmarried mothers, invalids, old people and everyone who is on the edge of social poverty, as well as ethic integration for the minority groups, especially those of Gypsy origin. The second purpose of this project is to create a minimum culture among these groups of the society, concerning the social laws in our country. This purpose will be achieved when these groups are aware with their rights and obligations. The third purpose of the project is to give problematic groups of the society, support in order to be limited the size of the poverty by motivating them to show interest and ambition to join to normal social and active way of living.

Serdon Foundation - Seeks to promote civil society development in Bulgaria by offering services and tools which streamline organizational management, and also to promote sustainable community development in Bulgaria via entrepreneurial and public-private partnership approaches.

Light House Association - Light House Association, established in 1998 in Turkey, is an international NGO committed to eliminating poverty by identifying its causes and seeking to promote sustainable economic and social development by working with local communities through relief and development programs. We aim to help the needy regardless of race, religion or gender. The main sectors we are involved in are: Health and Nutrition, Shelter, Water and Sanitation, Income Generation, Education and Vocational Training, Orphans Support and. Emergency and Disaster Relief.

Volunteers For Peace, Inc. - VFP offers over 2400 affordable short-term voluntary service projects in 90 different countries. These programs are an opportunity to complete meaningful community service while living and interacting in an international environment. Participants live and work with an international group for 2-3 weeks, providing a diverse cultural exchange with the other volunteers as well as the local hosts. Most work camps are limited to age 18 and over with over 250 programs available for volunteers under age 18, mostly in France and Germany.

Global Partnerships for Activism and Cross-Cultural Training - Global PACT is a group of citizens across the globe with one common mission: to change the world through the power of ordinary people. As an organization, we strive to empower youth to become active and culturally sensitive citizens in democratic societies. Global PACT trains young people for activism and cross-cultural understanding, locally and globally. Using training experiences from Ulan Bator, Mongolia, to New Brunswick, New Jersey and Zagreb, Croatia, we have designed universal processes for preparing youth to be strong democratic participants. We train and equip students with the skills they need to tackle social problems and transform their communities. During the training process, students build personal confidence, teamwork skills, and leadership abilities, and they realize their ability to develop and implement projects to benefit their communities.