The Information Resources Program included the
following projects and areas of activity in 1995:
- Information and Documentation Centre of the
Council of Europe
- Democracy and Economic Reform Guide for
Bulgaria
- Fostering Public Awareness in the Year of
Tolerance
- Who is Who in Bulgarian Politics
- Building Democracy in Mass Media
- Visit of Bulgarian journalists to NATO
- Library and Book Publishing.
I. Information and Documentation Centre of the
Council of Europe
The Information and Documentation Centre of the
Council of Europe &emdash; Sofia (IDCCES) was founded at the end of
1993 with the aim to make the Council's documents available to the
Bulgarian public, to promote the "European idea" and the ideals of
democracy, cooperation and human rights.
Its national information network is now established
and functioning, bringing Council of Europe materials closer to
people outside the capital city. In 1995, all eight regional
information units were supplied regularly with a selection of
Council of Europe materials.
In 1995, the efforts of the Information Centre were
concentrated on two Council of Europe campaigns: the Youth Campaign
Against Racism, Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia and Intolerance, and the
Nature Conservation Year. It assisted the national coordinating
committees for the two campaigns and participated in the campaigns
with events of its own.
A photo competition "Fear or Tolerance" was
organized in the period March-May, and the best photographs were
presented at an exhibition held firstly at CSD in Sofia, and then
in Plovdiv. Later it will be shown in the other information units
of the national network, drawing public attention to the campaign's
message.
Led by the belief that one important way of
influencing the development of society is to work with children,
the Information Centre co-organized a children's drawing
competition, "Nature in My World", within the ENCY campaign. The
culmination of this initiative was an exhibition at the National
Palace of Culture during the conference of European ministers of
the environment in October. A second exhibition was held at the
Russian Cultural Centre in early November.
In another publicity-oriented initiative, the
Information Centre signed a contract with the Committee of Posts
and Telecommunications, under which the logo of the campaign with
the inscription "Council of Europe, European Nature Conservation
Year" was stamped onto all incoming and outgoing letters in Sofia
in the period October 20 &emdash; November 20.
Seminars
- Film Producing and Copyrights, held in
April. The guest speaker at the seminar was Mr. Barrie Ellis-Jones,
Executive Secretary of Eurimages.
- Training seminar on human rights, July 21,
in co-operation with the Martin Luther King Project Bulgaria, with
the participation of Mr. Krassimir Kanev, Chairman of the Bulgarian
Helsinki Committee.
- Bulgarian Women's NGOs &emdash; in Beijing
and Beyond held at the end of November, with the participation of
Ms. Karen van Ebbenhorst Tengbergen of the Equality Section of the
Council of Europe, Ms. Lin Lap Chew of the International Report
Project, The Netherlands, and Ms. Maria Jose Cabezon
Rico of the Association of Young Women,
Spain.
- Legal Instruments for Protection of Violated
Human Rights, held in December, in co-operation with
Interrights, London and the Bulgarian Association for Fair
Elections. It was attended by Dr. Jeremy McBright of the University
of Birmingham, Mr. Istvan Horvat of the Budapest Bar Association
and judges from the Bulgarian Constitutional Court.
- In December 1995, IDCCES co-organized with the
Directorate for Religious Affairs at the Council of Ministers and
the Directorate for Human Rights at the Council of Europe a seminar
Freedom of Religion, Democracy and State Policy in the Light of
the Council of Europe Human Rights Standards. It was attended
by members of various religious groups, representatives of
government agencies on religious and human rights issues, and
representatives of NGOs in this area.
Discussions and Public Lectures
- Bulgarian Statehood in the Period
1878&endash;1946 in the Light of the Turnovo Constitution, on
July 12, with the participation of leading Bulgarian historians and
constitutional law experts. The Bulgarian National Television is
making a film on the basis of the discussion.
- A public lecture Council of Europe and Human
Rights was organized on November 6 in cooperation with the
Bulgaria-Netherlands Friendship Society. The lecture was delivered
by Mr. Dimitar Gochev, Constitutional Court Judge, and Member of
the European Court on uman Rights, Strasbourg.
- In cooperation with Mr. Marcus Brand of the Civic
Education Project and Mr. Yonko Grozev of the Bulgarian Helsinki
Committee, a discussion on human rights was held with university
students from Sofia and Varna on November 10.
Visits
- Mr. Miguel Angel Martinez, President of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, visited IDCCES on
June 9, and met with leading Bulgarian intellectuals.
Publicity Events
- A radio competition was organized in cooperation
with Vitosha Radio, Sofia. A question related to the Council of
Europe was asked each Sunday for eight consecutive weeks, and the
winners received the Off to Europe computer game.
- IDCCES Director Emil E. Georgiev took part in the
press conference on the Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities in July.
- Two press conferences with the Bulgarian
delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
were held, in February and October, following the respective
sessions of the Parliamentary Assembly.
- In January the Eurojournal program of the National
Television aired a short film about IDCCES and the Center for the
Study of Democracy and interviews with Emil Georgiev, IDCCES
Director, and Dr. Ognian Shentov, CSD President.
- An interview with Emil Georgiev in connection with
the Youth Campaign Against Racism, Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia and
Intolerance was aired in the Good Morning Bulgaria morning program
of the National Television in January.
Translations and Publications
- European Charter on the Participation of Young
People in Municipal and Regional Life
- Protocol 11 to the European Convention on Human
Rights
- Framework Convention for the Protection of
National Minorities and Explanatory Report
- Council of Europe &emdash; Activities and
Achievements
- Council of Europe &emdash; Facts and Figures
- Short Guide to the European Convention on Human
Rights
- Police Training Concerning Migrants and Ethnic
Relations
- Equality and Democracy: Utopia or Challenge?
- Proceedings of the Seminar Bulgarian Women's
NGOs: in Beijing and Beyond
In 1995, IDCCES received 1,651 new documents and was
visited by 1,102 readers.
II. Democracy and Economic Reform Guide for
Bulgaria
This project was developed with the purpose of
presenting the key concepts of the economic and political reforms
to the general public, and especially to students, in practical and
understandable language. One important result of this project was
that it met the need for basic knowledge in these areas, and was a
particularly welcomed addition to the textbooks available for
secondary education in Bulgaria. By targeting the general public,
and specifically students at high school age, this project has made
a crucial contribution to the democratization of Bulgarian
society.
In the course of the work on this public education
project, 80 essays were prepared, published in the Capital
Press weekly, and broadcast on the Vitosha-Atlantic Radio
Network including Vitosha Radio in Sofia, Atlantic Radio in Plovdiv
and Atlantic Radio in Varna. Fifty-five of these essays covered
economic reform issues and twenty five were on political topics.
Two rounds of focus group surveys and three telephone surveys were
carried out. In the second round of focus group surveys, a
Perception Analyzer System was used. A selection of essays,
tailored to the needs and structure of secondary education, was
published in the form of a book to be distributed through the
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in high schools in
the country.
The wide impact of the project was achieved by the
combination of a comprehensible explanation of key concepts of
political democracy and market economy, and the use of different
media and formats so as to reach as wide an audience as
possible.
III. Fostering Public Awareness in the Year of
Tolerance
This project was designed to have a long-term impact
on Bulgarian society. It entailed the creation of an electronic
database on manifestations of intolerance, xenophobia and ethnic
hatred in Bulgaria and the Balkan region, and on ethnic conflicts
and their coverage in the Bulgarian press.
The database was developed with two main objectives:
to provide decision-makers with reliable data and to serve as an
opinion-making factor in Bulgarian society. By December, the number
of entries on the specific issues exceeded 1,100.
In 1995, the main domestic political event in
Bulgaria was the local elections. During the first round, a report
was prepared on the main tendencies of ethnic conflicts, the rise
of xenophobia and ethnically or religiously motivated intolerance
as reflected in the Bulgarian press. After the second round and
through to the end of the year, the minority issue was concentrated
mainly on the situation in Kardjali and the possible annulment of
the election results. By the end of the period, a new topic
emerged: the privatization and possible concentration and
management of the privatization resources in ethnically-based
privatization funds.
One of the project's aims was to encourage a
substantive public debate on the issue of ethnic, religious and
nationalistic intolerance. On the basis of an agreement with the
Kultura weekly, two broad reviews on ethnic and minority issues
were published in the summer and fall of 1995.
The database has been made available to all users at
the CSD library. In 1996, it will be placed on the World Wide Web
server of the CSD and will become available to Internet users all
over the world.
IV. Who is Who in Bulgarian Politics
The project Who is Who in Bulgarian Politics
was launched at the end of 1994. Its purpose was to prepare a
database, which could be continually enlarged and updated. In
addition to the reference material on Bulgarian politicians, it
will contain a review of the history, functions, structure and
budget of the main state institutions, and the results of the
parliamentary, presidential and local elections in the period
1990-1995. It will give a comprehensive picture of political life
and the changes that have occurred in Bulgaria since 1989.
The database information was obtained chiefly by
means of questionnaires completed by the respondents selected
according to a set of criteria: respondents were supposed to be
currently active in politics, and to hold leading positions in the
social or political life on a national or local level.
The database includes information about the
President, the President's Office, the Prime Minister, the Prime
Minister's aides, the Council of Ministers, the chairpersons of
committees, agencies and other institutions at the Council of
Ministers, deputy ministers, regional governors, MPs of the 37th
National Assembly, leaders of the main parliamentary and
non-parliamentary political parties, leaders of major trade unions
and public organizations, Constitutional Court judges, the
President of the Supreme Court, the Prosecutor General, the
chairpersons of other institutions who are appointed by the
National Assembly, the directors of the National Radio and the
National Television as well as the mayors of municipalities with
populations exceeding 100,000.
Among the other sources of information were the
press centers of the Bulgarian Socialist Party and the Union of
Democratic Forces in the parliamentary election campaign in
December 1994, the press, the national news agency BTA and other
reference materials. Information originating from sources other
than the questionnaires has been double-checked to ensure its
reliability.
By the end of 1995, the information was collected
and processed as scheduled, and reached the editing stage. In 1996,
this database will also be available on the Internet through CSD's
server.
V. Building Democracy in Mass Media
This project had the objective of providing a sound
information basis for journalists who wish to enhance their skills
in the presentation of news, design of news programming, election
coverage, and talk shows. For this purpose, the project made
available a wide range of information on the role and function of
mass media in a modern democratic society.
The project objectives were achieved through the
development of a training program, in co-operation with the
Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy, the European
Institute for International Communication, Maastricht, the Albanian
Foundation for European Affairs, Tirana, the Foundation for an Open
Society, Bucharest, and the Institute of Europe, Moscow.
The training program was made effective in two
seminars held in Athens, from June 22 to July 1, with the
participation of 16 Bulgarian journalists from leading newspapers
and the electronic media. A follow-up seminar was held in Sofia on
December 14-18.
VI. Visit of Bulgarian Journalists to NATO
In November, a group of 12 leading Bulgarian
journalists visited the NATO headquarters as well as SHAPE and the
North Atlantic Assembly in Brussels, contributing to a better
understanding by the Bulgarian public of NATO's role and
achievements in the rapidly changing European environment. The
visit was co-organized with the NATO Office of Information and
Press. As a follow-up, a large, three-page article about NATO was
published in the Capital Press weekly.
VII. Library and Book Publishing
In 1995, CSD came to host the World Bank depository
library. The establishment of a depository library of the WEU
Assembly was also negotiated. Access to the world-wide computer
network Internet has contributed much to the efficiency of the
library services, and provides much broader information than the
mere collection of books and documents.
Bibliographic information on the latest
English-language publications is provided on a regular basis from
the Blackwell electronic catalogues.
The Council of Europe collection was enlarged by 450
new entries, and the CSD collection of books and documents by 306
new titles, of which 85 were purchased and the rest were
donated.
The library received 62 Bulgarian and 127 foreign
periodicals, and was visited by over 1,500 readers.
The Book Publishing Program of the Center for the
Study of Democracy aims at promoting education in harmony with the
modern social, political and economic realities and trends in
Bulgaria. In 1995, it prepared six publications, namely:
- Jьrgen Habermas. Strukturwandel der
Offentlichkeit. Sofia, CSD, 380 pp.; ISBN 954-477-014-3
- Democracy and Economic Reform Guide. Edited
by Tihomir Bezlov. Sofia, CSD, 291 pp.; ISBN 954-477-018-6
- Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political Thought
(in print)
- Robert Dahl, Modern Political Analysis.
Sofia University Press, 203 pp.; ISBN 954-477-013-5
- The Spanish Transition. A collection of
essays (in print)
- Economic Reforms Around the World. A
Collection of articles. Edited by Maria Prohaska. Sofia, CSD/CIPE,
86 pp.; ISBN 954-477-020-8
- Liegeois, Jean-Pierre. Roma, Gypsies,
Travellers. Sofia, CSD/IDCCE, 315 pp.; ISBN 954-477-017-8
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