1. THE "POLITICAL HEADLINES"

Significant issues regarding racism/xenophobia and anti-discrimination (including issues regarding the Jewish, Muslim and Roma communities) in public debate - cases of racism that received wide publicity and exemplary court cases. Please focus on issues for which additional online inpublic apologyformation is also available regarding either the information itself or the organization providing it (preferably governmental bodies or important NGO’s).

Please do not include more than 3 items. (max. 2000 characters)

The Bulgarian Commission for Protection from Discrimination (CPD) found that a ban on veil-wearing in schools was not discrimination in case all students wore uniforms. The CPD intervened after the Union for Islamic Culture signaled that students in a school in the town of Smolyan were banned from wearing veils. According to the Union some schools intentionally introduced uniforms to prevent religious students from wearing veils, which were previously allowed. According to the CPD, the Union intentionally tried to incite discrimination-related conflict, for which it would be fined. Since all students in the Smolyan school wore uniforms the ban on veils could not be seen as discrimination, the CPD ruled. The topic is widely covered in the Bulgarian press, some of them making parallels with the situation in France in 2004.

http://www.sofiaecho.com/search.php?submited=1&page=1&keywords=smolyan&cat=0&pstart%5Bday%5D=1&pstart%5Bmonth%5D=6&pstart%5Byear%5D=2006&pend%5Bday%5D=28&pend%5Bmonth%5D=8&pend%5Byear%5D=2006

Close to eight thousand Bulgarians signed under a petition against the discrimination of the non-Roma population of Bulgaria. The petition claims that the state provided aid to individuals of Roma origin (such housing, social assistance, greater tolerance for unpaid bills from the electricity distribution companies, quotas to university admission policies, etc.) amounts to discrimination against non-Roma citizens. The petition was raised after a media report that Bulgarians in the Plovdiv district of Stolipinovo (with predominantly Roma population) had their electricity cut because the Roma did not pay their electricity bills .

http://www.bgpetition.com/diskriminacia/index.html

2. UPDATE ON LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

Significant developments regarding anti-discrimination and anti-racist legislation, e.g. the transposition process of Directives 43 and 78. It is crucially important that you quote the primary source/s.

(max. 2000 characters)

The proposed amendments to the Law for Protection from Discrimination outlined in Bulletin 3 were accepted by Parliament and came into force with their publication in State Gazette No.68 from 22 August 2006. Here is a reminder of the text submitted with the previous bulleting:

“Draft Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on protection against Discrimination

Draft Law Amending and Supplementing the Law on protection against Discrimination was submitted for a second round of parliamentary deliberations on May 12, 2005. The discussed amendments include the modification of the title of the law in order to eliminate the slight inconsistency with the name of the Commission for Protection from Discrimination. Some of the amendments concern the status of the Commission for Protection form Discrimination as a legal person with an independent budget. The proposed amendments also provide for the nomination of regional representatives of the Commission and better procedural rules avoiding the flaws in the current legislation which in some cases may cause complete blocks of the Commission’s investigations. The Draft Law is still deliberated across parliamentary committees following its first reading in Parliament on June 1, 2006.

http://www.parliament.bg/bills/40/654-01-62.pdf (in Bulgarian only)

Court Finds Bulgarian Nationalists’ Leader Guilty in Instigating Discrimination

On July 21 t he Sofia Regional Court found the leader of the Parliament represented coalition party Ataka, Mr. Volen Siderov, guilty of instigating discrimination under the Law for Protection from Discrimination. The lawsuit was filed by a Bulgarian, which belongs to the Armenian ethnic minority. The court found that two of Siderov’s statements are harassment and they incite discrimination. The court said Siderov should restrain from such statements but did not rule he should make a public apology.

3. RESEARCH

Significant major national reports on racism/xenophobia (including issues regarding the Jewish, Muslim and Roma communities). It is crucially important that you quote the primary source/s.

(max. 2000 characters)

No significant reports were published during the past two months.

4. ANNEX

1. Present the latest published official / unofficial statistical data or incidents lists on racist violence and crimes, antisemitism and Islamophobia with a statement on their relevance and validity.

2. Present any significant media coverage of EUMC publications.

3. Present any major upcoming event of national or international importance (indicating name, date, place, organisers, and web-link).

On August 4, 2006, the Bulgarian Parliament unanimously voted a declaration which condemns the failed attempt for setting on fire the mosque in the town of Kazanlak on July 25. The Parliament declared its intention to prevent other such incidents, which to disturb the ethnic tolerance in the country. The incident in Kazanlak follows a series of protests against the Muslim mosques in different Bulgarian towns, including the capital Sofia. The protests, initiated by Parliament-represented nationalist party Ataka, aimed to gather support for banning the speakers of mosques in the country. Unlike in Muslim countries, the speakers of Mosques are used only 3 times (instead of 5 times) and only during daytime. There is no indication that these incidents were in any way related to the recent conflicts in the Middle East.

http://www.parliament.bg/?page=plSt&lng=bg&SType=show&id=182

http://news.ibox.bg/news/id_1556866417 (in Bulgarian only)