The major areas of activities of the Law Program in the year 2006 were the institutional
and legal reform in Bulgaria. In particular, the efforts focused on judicial
reform, including the reinforcement of criminal justice, the countering of corruption
and organized crime, the introduction of modern commercial registration, and the
law enforcement and administration of justice in border districts. The Law Program
continued to support the national and local ombudsmen by implementing a variety
of activities for promoting and strengthening these institutions. The new challenge in
the work of the Law Program in 2006 was the monitoring of racism and xenophobia
in the country, done on behalf of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia.
2006 Highlights
• Building upon its considerable track record in the field of judicial reform
the Law Program focused its efforts on reinforcing criminal justice in border
districts. The initiative is aimed to identify the existing problems and propose
relevant solutions as regards the law enforcement and administration of
justice on trans-border crime. Other important issues addressed by the Law
Program through the year included the reform of criminal procedure and the
integration of criminal and economic policies against organized crime and
corruption.
• The business registration reform initiated and advocated for by the Law
Program, entered a new stage following the adoption of the Law on the
Commercial Register. The new law, which was developed with the active
participation of experts of the Law Program and should enter into force in
July 2007, has created the necessary legislative basis for reform. Nevertheless,
the Law Program is committed to continue its efforts during the next stages
of the process up until the practical establishment of the central electronic
commercial register.
• The national ombudsman institution, whose introduction in Bulgaria is
among the success stories of the Law Program, started to practically perform
its activities in 2006. During its first full year of operation the ombudsman
relied strongly on the support of the Law Program, which provided various
types of assistance: from awareness, capacity building and training activities
to facilitating the international relations and cooperation of the ombudsman
with similar institutions from other countries.
• Initially promoted and supported by CSD, the establishment of local ombudsmen
(public mediators) marked further progress in 2006. By the end of the
year, 15 municipalities had already elected their local ombudsmen. The Law
Program continued to provide assistance to the operating local ombudsmen
and to the municipal authorities working to establish the institution.
An important step forward in this respect was the renewal of the idea,
initially proposed by the Law Program a few years ago, to establish a local
ombudsmen association.
• For the first time in 2006 the Law Program operated the National Focal
Point for Bulgaria of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia (EUMC). As a National Focal Point the Law Program had specific
responsibilities mainly related to the collection of data on racism and
xenophobia and their submission to the EUMC headquarters in Vienna as well
as by popularizing the work of the EUMC among the relevant stakeholders in
Bulgaria. |
I. Legislative and Judicial Reform
1. Judicial Reform
Criminal Justice Reform
The reform of criminal justice, a key EU
accession requirement for Bulgaria, is
still a major challenge in the framework
of judicial reform in the country. The
adoption of the new Criminal Procedure
Code and the new Law on the Ministry
of Interior created the legislative basis
for the reforms, but their practical implementation,
which started in 2006, still
needs to be improved.
To facilitate the process on June 6, 2006,
CSD Law Program in cooperation with
the Ministry of Interior held a public discussion "Criminal Justice in the Context
of Bulgaria’s EU Accession: Problems
with the Application of the New Criminal
Procedure Code and the Law on the
Ministry of Interior." The event brought
together magistrates, governmental officials, representatives of NGOs and the
media to share their initial observations
on the implementation of the new legislation
and outline some of the problems
that need to be addressed. The excessive
workload of the investigating police of-
ficers and the supervising prosecutors,
the need of reconsidering the criteria for
appointment of the investigating police
officers (including the abolishment of
the requirement for university degree or university degree in law), enhancement
of the preventive role of pre-trial proceedings,
broadening the powers of the
National Investigation Service to include
the investigation of crimes committed
by minors and those related to the high
level political corruption, introducing a
definition of ”detected crime”, etc. were
amongst the topics in the discussion.
The problems in both the pre-trial phase
and the court procedure, upstanding a
month before the entry in force of the
new legislation, were presented during
the discussion. Among the speakers were
Mr. Vasil Stoichev from the National Police
Service, Mr. Mladen Chervenyakov,
Member of Parliament from the Coalition
for Bulgaria, Mr. Rumen Georgiev,
Deputy Director of the National Investigation
Service, Mr. Asen Arsov, Head
of Division in the Supreme Prosecution
Office of Cassation, Mr. Rumen Nenkov,
Deputy Chair of the Supreme Court of
Cassation, etc.
Bridging Criminal and Economic Policies
against Organized Crime and Corruption
Organized crime and corruption are no
longer simply a criminal matter. They
have been penetrating countries and
communities globally, undermining
the legal economy and government institutions.
The divergence of criminal
justice systems worldwide, however,
is in the way of deeper cooperation.
Consequently, it needs to be complemented
During the public discussion on the criminal justice reform (from left to right): CSD Chairman
Dr. Ognian Shentov, Minister of Interior Mr. Rumen Petkov, Deputy-Minister of Interior
Mr. Rumen Andreev, and Mr. Asen Arsov, Head of Division in
the Supreme Prosecution Office of Cassation
by policies where collaboration is more
forthcoming like the economic policies,
which are particularly relevant in the
context of EU enlargement and its
stabilization effect on other regions.
Against this background, on June
23-24, 2006, CSD Law Program held an
international conference "Corruption and
Organized Crime: Bridging Criminal and
Economic Policies" aimed at reviewing
the range of effective policy instruments
and proposing integrated solutions to
governments, international institutions
and the civil society. The conference
brought together academics and practitioners,
public and private sector
experts, policy makers and researchers
to advance the international and regional
policy agenda against organized crime
and corruption. Among the participants
at the event were Mr. George Hardy
of the US Department of Justice,
Mr. Mahmut Cengiz, Chief Inspector
at the Turkish National Police, Dr. Paul
Larsson, Associate Professor at the
Police University College of Oslo,
Prof. Petrus van Duyne and Prof. Jan
van Dijk from the University of Tilburg, Mr. Ger Homburg from Regioplan (the
Netherlands), Ms. Kristin Höltge from
the Free University of Berlin, Vincenzo
Ruggiero from Middlesex University,
London, Dr. Jens Andvig from the
Norwegian Institute for International
Affairs, Mr. Brian Donald from UK’
Serious Organised Crime Agency
(SOCA), Dr. Dina Siegel from the Faculty
of Law, Vrije Universiteit – Amsterdam,
Mr. Hugo Brady, Research Fellow at the
Centre for European Reform, UK and
the experts from CSD Dr. Konstantin
Pashev, Mr. Tihomir Bezlov, Mr. Philip
Gunev and Mr. Assen Dyulgerov.
Raising Awareness on the Eve of
EU Accession
In the light of the upcoming accession
of Bulgaria to the EU the Law Program
launched a series of public events
to raise the awareness on the recent
developments and pending issues in
the field of judicial reform and the
fight against organized crime and
corruption.
During the discussions at the international
conference on bridging criminal and economic
policies against corruption and organized crime
Following up on the cooperation with the
EU Member States’ diplomatic missions
in Bulgaria, on March 2, 2006, the Law
Program held a discussion on judicial
reform in Bulgaria. The objective of
the event was to inform the diplomatic
community on the progress of judicial
reform in the country. The Deputy
Chiefs of Mission of EU Member States
and a representative of the Delegation
of the European Commission to
Bulgaria attended the event. The Law
Program’s Director Dr. Maria Yordanova
and Project Coordinator Mr. Dimitar Markov delivered a lecture Judicial
Reforms in Bulgaria on the Eve of EU
Accession. Among the most significant
issues presented and discussed were the
basic principles of the organization and
functioning of the judiciary in Bulgaria;
judicial and law enforcement bodies:
the courts, the prosecution office, the
investigating bodies within and outside
the judiciary and the Supreme Judicial
Council as well as the Constitutional
Court and its decisions regarding the
judiciary; the recently introduced reforms
and the changes under discussion; the
adopted and upcoming constitutional
amendments regarding the judiciary;
and the proposals for reforming judiciary
developed by the Law Program experts
during the last several years.
Reinforcing Criminal Justice in
Border Districts
In April 2006, the Law Program launched
an initiative aimed to counter
corruption and reinforce criminal justice
in the border districts with Turkey
and Macedonia. The initiative’s main
objective is to contribute to improving the
During the discussion on judicial reform (from left to right): Mr. Dimitar Markov, Project
Coordinator at the Law Program, Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the Law Program, and
Mr. Lothar Jaschke, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Austrian Embassy
effectiveness of criminal justice as regards
border related disputes by studying the
problems of administration of justice in
borderregion courts, formulating policy
recommendations for improving the
situation, implementing activities to
enhance the capacity of the respective
judicial bodies to more effectively prosecute
and convict border related crime,
and piloting the implementation of the
recommended measures in selected
courts. In addition, the project aims
at identifying common problems in
the area of border justice in Bulgaria,
Turkey and Macedonia, facilitate the
sharing of experience and information
and improve the capacity of judicial
bodies from the three countries to work
together for achieving better results in
the investigation and criminal justice
on trans-border cases.
To increase the impact of the activities
the Law Program involved some of the
major stakeholders as partners in the
initiative. The Ministry of Justice, the
Supreme Judicial Council, the Supreme
Prosecution Office of Cassation, and the
Bulgarian Judges Association are among
the institutions officially involved in
the implementation of the project.
The initiative was officially launched
at a special press conference in the city
of Haskovo on May 9, 2006 with the
participation of Dr. Kim Howells, Minister
of State, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office, UK, the British Ambassador
Mr. Jeremy Hill, Mr. Dimitar Bongalov,
Deputy Minister of Justice of Bulgaria,
the Prosecutor from the Supreme Prosecution
Office of Cassation Mr. Vasil
Mikov, Mr. Borislav Belazelkov, Justice
at the Supreme Court of Cassation and
Executive Secretary of the Bulgarian
Judges Association, the Law Program
Director Dr. Maria Yordanova, judges,
prosecutors, investigators, and police
and customs officials from Haskovo and
Svilengrad. After the press conference
a working meeting between the CSD
project team and representatives from
the local courts and prosecution offices was held to discuss the problems
During the opening seminar in Sofia (from left to right): Mr. Rumen Georgiev, Deputy Director of
the National Investigation Service and Chair of the Chamber of Investigators in Bulgaria,
Ms. Nelly Koutzkova, Chair of the Bulgarian Judges Association and Judge in the Sofia District
Court, Mr. Dimitar Markov, Project Coordinator at the Law Program, and Dr. Vasil Kirov,
Director of the Financial Intelligence Agency
encountered by the latter and the future
cooperation with the CSD.
To help establish contacts and exchange
of information on trans-border crime
detection, investigation and punishment
the Law Program organized working
meetings of Bulgarian and Turkish
magistrates. The meetings, held in the
city of Haskovo on September 13-14,
2006, brought together judges and
prosecutors from Edirne and Kirklareli,
officials from the Turkish Ministry
of Justice and the British Embassy
in Ankara, Bulgarian magistrates
(including the chairs of the Court of
Appeal of Plovdiv, the district courts in
Haskovo, Pazardzhik and Smolyan and
the Military Court of Plovdiv as well as
judges and prosecutors from Haskovo
and Svilengrad), Law Program experts
(Dr. Maria Yordanova, Mr. Dimitar
Markov and Mr. Tihomir Bezlov) and the
Bulgarian Judges Association Executive
Secretary and Justice Borislav Belazelkov.
The two plenary meetings were complemented by team consultations
between Bulgarian and Turkish judges
and prosecutors respectively where the
particular challenges related to transborder
crime and the way those can
be addressed by the two branches
of the judiciary were discussed. The
closing meeting served to present the
outcomes of the two-day talks and
the agreements achieved on several
points: to exchange regular information
on judicial and legal reforms in both
countries, to initiate relevant measures
for speeding up information supply on
cases of trans-border crime, to hold joint
trainings and expert discussions on the
most common types of trans-border
crime (drugs and human trafficking,
smuggling, etc.) for Bulgarian and
Turkish judges, prosecutors, police and
customs officers.
To study the situation and the problems
of the administration of justice
in border districts the Law Program experts
developed a special needs assess-
During the border justice press conference (from left to right): Mr. Borislav Belazelkov, Justice at the
Supreme Court of Cassation and Executive Secretary of the Bulgarian Judges Association,
Mr. Vasil Mikov, Prosecutor from the Supreme Prosecution Office of Cassation, Mr. Dimitar
Bongalov, Deputy Minister of Justice of Bulgaria, Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the Law
Program, Dr. Kim Howells, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, UK, Ms. Kristina
Terzieva, Interpreter, Mr. Jeremy Hill, British
Bulgarian and Turkish magistrates during the first working meeting in Haskovo
ment and monitoring methodology.
The methodology consists of several
com-ponents the major one being the
collection and analysis of official statistics,
the carrying out of sociological
research (focus groups and in-depth
interviews), examination and analysis of
laws and regulations, etc. In the course
of implementing the methodology the
Law Program collected statistical data
from a number of institutions (such as
courts, prosecution offices, investigation
services, police and border authorities,
etc.) and jointly with Vitosha Research
held three focus group discussions
with representatives of the relevant
stakeholders (one focus group in the
city of Haskovo on November 23, 2006,
and two focus groups in the city of
Burgas on December 1, 2006).
2. Commercial Registration Reform
The efforts of the Law Program to
promote and assist the implementation
of a comprehensive reform in the
field of commercial registration in
Bulgaria marked significant progress
in the year 2006. After a complicated
legislative procedure on March 24,
2006, the National Assembly adopted the Law on the Commercial Register,
developed with the participation of
Law Program experts. The law is in line
with the basic principles of the Strategy
for Establishing a Central Register of
Legal Persons and an Electronic Registries Center of the Republic of Bulgaria,
which in turn was based on the commercial registration reform concept
paper developed by the Law Program
experts as far back as 2003. According
to the law a new central electronic
commercial register should now replace
the old paper-based decentralized one.
The new register will be kept by the
Registry Agency with the Ministry of
Justice and registration will follow
administrative instead of judicial
procedures.
Despite the efforts of the Law Program
experts to help the Registry Agency
to develop the secondary legislation
for the implementation of the law and
the timely elaboration of an initial
draft version of these rules the reform
process gradually slowed down. Due
to the fact that the government did
not manage to adopt the secondary
legislation on time and because of the
lack of the necessary technological andlogistical preconditions to transfer the
register from the courts to the Registry
Agency the parliament was forced to
postpone the entry in force of the law
from October 1, 2006, to July 1, 2007.
Despite the delay, the reform of the
business registration in Bulgaria is
progressing in line with the European
standards in this area and its accomplishment
will not only improve the
environment for doing business in Bulgaria
but will also furnish the country
with a wide range of possibilities for a
broader and more effective participation
in European trade.
II. Ombudsman Institution
After the election of the first Bulgarian
ombudsman in April 2005, the Law
Program continued its efforts to help
strengthen the institution and turn
it into an effective mechanism for
guaranteeing good governance and the
rule of law. In line with the Partnership
Statement between the Ombudsman of
the Republic of Bulgaria and the Center
for the Study of Democracy, signed
in 2005, the activities focused on the
provision of expert assistance, training
of the institution’s administrative staff
and organization of joint events. The
Law Program also continued to support
the establishment of local ombudsmen
(public mediators) – a process, which
marked further progress in 2006.
1. Strengthening the Ombudsman
Institution on National Level
Expert assistance
Experts of the Law Program held a
number of working meetings with
the ombudsman and officials from
his administrative staff on different
problems of the institution’s work. The Law Program took part in designing
the concept for the ombudsman’s
public register of complaints, which
was successfully introduced in early
2006 and will soon be available on the
internet. Experts of the Law Program
contributed to the development of the
ombudsman’s Recommendations to
the state and municipal authorities and
their administrations for the elaboration
of internal administrative rules for
operation in case of an investigation by
the ombudsman. The recommendations
were disseminated among all state and
municipal bodies, which gradually
started to adopt and implement them.
The Law Program also initiated and
actively participated in the elaboration
of a draft agreement between the
ombudsman and the municipal councils
which should regulate the introduction
of local ombudsmen on municipal level
and their interaction with the national
ombudsman.
Training and awareness raising
The challenges before a new institution
such as the ombudsman made the
training of the ombudsman’s team
a key prerequisite for the effective
operation of the institution. Jointly
with the ombudsman, the Law Program
organized a series of seminars where
experts from CSD and other institutions
and organizations delivered specialized
training for the ombudsman’s administrative
staff on issues such as receipt
and handling of complaints and alerts,
operation of the public register of
complaints, European standards for
good administration, mediation, etc.
Representatives of the Law Program
took part in the first national awareness
campaign of the ombudsman. The
initiative was aimed to popularize the
institution of the national ombudsman
in districts and regions throughout thecountry. The campaign started in late
October and continued until December
2006, covering five major cities throughout
the country (Pazardzhik, Blagoevgrad,
Vratsa, Varna and Burgas).
In each of the cities a public discussion
"The Ombudsman Institution – Power
of Morality and Authority: European
Standards for Good Administration"
was organized, followed by a press
conference for the local media and a
ad hoc reception center for citizens’
complaints and alerts. CSD experts,
who were responsible for the panel
on the European standards for good
administrative behavior (including the
role of the European Ombudsman),
developed a detailed presentation on
the topic, delivered lectures at three of
the events (in Pazardzhik, Blagoevgrad
and Vratsa), and disseminated a number
of publications from the Center ’s
ombudsman series.
Legislative developments
In September 2006, the National Assembly
adopted the third consecutive
amendments to the Constitution of the
Republic of Bulgaria. As a result, for the
first time provisions on the ombudsman
were incorporated in the Constitution,
providing the institution with the long
awaited constitutional status. The Law
Program had advocated for this idea
for more than three years and has
even elaborated draft constitutional
amendments. One of the key proposals
of this draft, namely the power of
the ombudsman to approach the
Constitutional Court, was also adopted
by the parliament.
Facilitating international cooperation
A priority for the Law Program was
to facilitate the establishment and
development of cooperation between
the Bulgarian ombudsman and foreignombudsman type institutions. The
Law Program was involved in the
organization of several visits of foreign
ombudsmen to Bulgaria that helped
integrate the Bulgarian ombudsman in
the European ombudsmen family.
The major international event organized
jointly by CSD and the Ombudsman
of the Republic of Bulgaria was the
international conference "The Ombudsman– Power through Ethics and
Respect – Independence from and
Interaction with the Legislature, the
Executive and the Judiciary." The
event, held on July 27, 2006, brought
together the National Ombudsman
of the Netherlands Prof. Dr. Alex
Brenninkmeijer, Mr. Frank Orton,
Former Human Rights Ombudsman
of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mr. Jernej
Rovšek, Deputy Human Rights Ombudsman
of Slovenia, Mr. Ixhet
Memeti, Ombudsman of Macedonia,
Mr. Ulco van de Pol, Ombudsman of
Amsterdam, Bulgarian MPs, senior
representatives of the executive and the
judiciary, and NGOs working in the
field of human rights protection. The
participants discussed a variety of topics,
including the interactions between the
ombudsman and the state authorities,
the role of the ombudsman in countering
corruption, the cooperation between the
national and local ombudsmen, etc. For
the purpose of the conference experts
from the Law Program compiled a
set of materials, including the articles
The Ombudsman and the Other Human
Rights Protecting Mechanisms and The
Ombudsman and the Judiciary: the Foreign
Experience.
As a follow up to the international conference, on July 28, 2006, CSD hosted
a meeting with the representatives of
the Bulgarian and Dutch ombudsman
institutions. The National Ombudsman
of the Netherlands and the Ombudsmanof Amsterdam, representatives of the
office of the Bulgarian Ombudsman,
the Sofia Municipality Ombudsman,
civil society organizations and experts
from CSD participated in the working
meeting discussing on the opportunities
and perspectives for common actions
and exchange of information and best
practices.
The Greek Ombudsman Prof. Giorgos
Kaminis visited Bulgaria in the fall
of 2006 and was guest speaker at the
round table discussion "The National
Ombudsman: A Mechanism for Good
Administrative Services and Corruption-
Free Administration." During the event,
held by CSD on November 8, 2006,
Prof. Kaminis made an overview of the
institution of the Greek Ombudsman
and its activities since its inception eight
years ago, noting the specific historic and
political conditions that have determined
its development. He stressed that the
ombudsman must be an essentially
independent, respected and creditable
figure supported by highly qualified
and morally impeccable staff in order
to win both the public’s confidence and
the administration’s reliance and be
able to keep the latter in check. The
discussion benefited from the remarks of the Bulgarian Ombudsman Mr. Ginyo
Ganev and his Deputy Mr. Metin
Kazak, CSD Chairman Dr. Ognian
Shentov, CSD Law Program Director
Dr. Maria Yordanova, ombudsman
office staff, and CSD experts.
The European Ombudsman Prof. Nikiforos
Diamandouros was the keynote
speaker at the round table discussion "The Ombudsman Institution at European,
National and Local Level"
held by CSD on November 28, 2006.
Prof. Diamandouros spoke before
representatives of non-governmental
organizations, local public mediators,
representatives of foreign missions
and officials from the Bulgarian
ombudsman’s administrative staff. The
European Ombudsman explained that
his visit to Bulgaria is part of a series
of visits to all EU Member States and
the candidate countries – an initiative
aimed at reaching out to the national
governments, NGOs and media as well
as strengthening the cooperation with
the national ombudsmen. Further in
his presentation Prof. Diamandouros
briefed the participants on the new
rights Bulgarians will acquire once
the country enters the EU. European
citizenship, which will automatically
The Greek Ombudsman Prof. Kaminis speaks about the growing importance of the ombudsman
institution at a round table discussion at CSD
Dr. Maria Yordanova, Prof. Nikiforos Diamandouros and Dr. Ognian Shentov during the round
table discussion at CSD
add to the Bulgarian citizenship, will
create new opportunities for the people
to seek protection of their rights such
as access to European institutions
(including the right to address the
European Commission as the Guardian
of the Treaties anytime when a national
body violates European law), right
to seek redress (including before the
European Court of Justice) and right to
appeal to the European Ombudsman.
2. Examining the Possibilities
of Introducing Specialized
Ombudsman Institutions
In the year 2006, the Law Program
accomplished its study on the opportunities
of introducing specialized
ombudsman institutions in the country.
The study, focusing in particular on the
establishment of a healthcare ombudsman,
concluded that for the time being it would
be a better solution to build the capacity
of the national ombudsman to deal with
issues in the field of healthcare rather than
creating another ombudsman institution
thus risking duplication of functions
and even undermine the authority of the
institution. The results of the study were publicly
presented on March 28, 2006, at the
public discussion "The Constitutional
Amendments and the Ombudsman
Institution: Specialized Ombudsmen in
Bulgaria." The event was also dedicated
to the recently adopted constitutional
amendments and the inclusion of
provisions on the ombudsman in the
Constitution. Members of the staff of
the ombudsman, the public mediator
of Sofia municipality and his deputy,
representatives of NGOs, experts
and journalists attended the event
and expressed their views on the two
alternative options: the establishment
of a special healthcare ombudsman
(on a national level or at each medical
establishment) or the institution of a
specialized unit within the office of the
national ombudsman were presented
during the discussion.
3. Continuing Support for Local
Ombudsmen
The Law Program continued its support
for the establishment and strengthening
of local level ombudsman institutions
(public mediators). In 2006, additional municipalities introduced the institution
of the local public mediator and by the
end of the year there were more thanfifteen local ombudsmen throughout the
country. The Law Program continued
to provide expertise to municipalities
wishing to introduce the institution and
to assist the elected public mediators in
their activities.
At a round table discussion in the city
of Pazardzhik, organized by the public
mediator of Pazardzhik municipality
on November 1, 2006, representatives
of the Law Program presented the
current situation with the establishment
of local ombudsmen in Bulgaria. The
event brought together fifteen public
mediators and in conclusion of the
discussions a decision was made to
establish an association of local public
mediators. The same idea was launched
by the Law Program several years ago
but was not further developed due to
the few local ombudsmen operating
at that time. However, the experience accumulated with this past effort will
allow CSD to substantially contribute
to the renewed initiative and facilitate
the process of instituting the local
ombudsmen’s organization. The idea
was further discussed at the round
table discussion "The Ombudsman
Institution at European, National and
Local Level" on November 28, 2006.
4. Publications
The Law Program added one more
publication to its ombudsman series
and continued to publish articles in
other media as well.
The brochure The Healthcare Ombudsman –
Best Practices and Prospects for Bulgaria,
published in April 2006, dealt with
different aspects of the institution of
the specialized healthcare ombudsman
and the possibilities for its introduction
in Bulgaria. The publication contained
an overview of the good practices and
the experience in the United Kingdom,
During the discussion on the healthcare ombudsman (from right to left): Ms. Rossitsa
Totkova, Director of Citizens Complaints Directorate at the national ombudsman’s office,
Dr. Maria Yordanova, Director of the Law Program, Ms. Dragomira Paunova,
Project Assistant at the Law Program
Australia, Switzerland and Israel. The
edition included also a detailed summary
of a discussion in relation with two draft
laws concerning the institution of the
health ombudsman and the comments
and the recommendations on them of
the Law Program experts.
The experts of the Law Program
continued to provide regular contributions
for the European Ombudsman
Newsletter and their articles featured
in the newsletter’s Issue No. 6 of April
2006 and Issue No.7 of October 2006.
The Ombudsman Information Network,
maintained by the Law Program for
several years now, was regularly
updated offering comprehensive information
on the current situation with
the ombudsman type institutions in
the country. The network is particularly
helpful to the general public because
of the delay with the launch of the
national ombudsman’s official website.
On the other hand, it is instrumental for
improving the cooperation among the
local public mediators since it serves as
a publicly available resource center for
exchange of experience, information
and documentation.
III. Monitoring of Racism and
Xenophobia
In 2006, CSD operated for the first
time the Bulgarian National Focal
Point (NFP) of the European Racism
and Xenophobia Information Network
(RAXEN) coordinated by the European
Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia (EUMC). The RAXEN
network is comprised of NFPs in
each of the EU Member States. As an
NFP the Center was responsible for
collecting official and unofficial data on
racism and xenophobia in the country
in areas such as employment, housing,
education, legal issues and racist
violence and crime. The information
collected was submitted to the EUMC
in the form of various deliverables
(data collection report, special study,
bulletins, data bases, etc.).
As part of its responsibilities as a RAXEN
NFP on September 28-29, 2006, the
Center held an international workshop
"Policing Minorities." The event was
aimed to broaden the opportunities
for Bulgarian NGOs to work with
government and law-enforcement institutions
in addressing issues of ethnic
and racial discrimination and violence
and to increase the capacity of Bulgarian
law-enforcement institutions to prevent
and analyze issues related to ethnic
d racist violence and discrimination.
Among the participants were Mr. Alessandro
Budai, Mr. Tomaz Trplan
and Ms. Joanna Goodey from EUMC,
CSD’s experts Mr. Dimitar Markov,
Mr. Tihomir Bezlov and Mr. Philip
Gounev, Mr. Aidan Fitzpatrick from the
Employment Development Division of
the Equality Commission for Northern
Ireland, Mr. Milcho Enev, Chief Inspector
at the Bulgarian National Police,
Mr. Kensika Monshengwo from the
Irish National Consultative Committee
on Racism and Interculturalism, Ms. Rachel Neild and Ms. Rebekah
Delsol from the Open Society Justice
Initiative in New York, Mr. Joel Miller
from the University of Malaga, Mr. Rich
Keenan, Detective Chief Inspector at
the Professional Standards Department
of the Leicestershire Constabulary, the
Director of the European Institute of
Crime Prevention and Control (HEUNI)
and President of the European Society
of Criminology Mr. Kauko Aromaa, the
Deputy Ombudsman of the Republic
of Bulgaria Mr. Metin Kazak, Ms. Anna
Papadopoulou, Senior Investigator at
the Department of Human Rights of the
Greek Ombudsman, the Chair of the
Bulgarian Commission for Protection
from Discrimination Mr. Kemal Eyup,
and Mr. Valery Roussanov, Chair of
the Board of Directors of ACCESS –
Sofia Foundation.
IV. International Cooperation
The Law Program continued its successful
cooperation with projects and
initiatives implemented by foreign
partner organizations. Through its Law Program CSD took part
in the project "THEMIS: Transformation
of the Role of the Judiciary within the
European Integrated Context" implemented by the Greek European Public
Law Institute (EPLC) jointly with partners
from Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria and
Slovakia. In the framework of this project
CSD was involved in the organization of
a workshop in Istanbul and a conference
in Athens both aimed at generating
discussion and exchange of ideas on the
dysfunctions and best practices of each
system and the need of reforms and
transformations thereof.
The Law Program assisted the implementation
of some of the activities
under the project "Working Together –
the Key to Improving the Management
of Judicial Cases and the Consistency of
Judgments", coordinated by Friedrich
Naumann Foundation in cooperation
with the bar associations of Sofia, Ankara
and Bucharest. The Law Program Director Dr. Maria Yordanova delivered a
presentation on the civil society initiatives
for reforming the judiciary in Bulgaria
at the international conference "Legal
Mr. Kemal Eyup, Chair of the Bulgarian Commission for Protection from Discrimination, describes
the activities of the commission in the field of racial and ethnic discrimination during the international
workshop Policing Minorities
Reform in the Accession Process" held in
Bucharest in June 2006 and atten-ded the
other two conferences under the project
held in Ankara in April and in Sofia in
October 2006.
Dr. Maria Yordanova took part in an
international conference Preventing
and Fighting Corruption in the Public
Administration in Europe", organized
by the German Civil Service Federation
Academy (DBB Akademie) in Cologne,
Germany, on February 20-21, 2006. As
a follow-up to the event CSD became
a member of an International Anti-Corruption Information Project and
Training Network established upon the
initiative of the DBB Akademie.
In the framework of the newly
established cooperation with the Rule
of Law Program for South East Europe
of Konrad Adenauer Foundation
members of the Law Program contributed
to the organization an international
conference "Bulgaria and
Romania on the Eve of EU-Accession:
Achievements and Challenges Ahead
for the Justice Systems", held in Sofia
on December 14-16, 2006.
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