The Information Resource Program included the
following projects and areas of activities:
- Information and Documentation Centre of the Council
of Europe
- Democracy and Economic Reform Guide for
Bulgaria
- Security and Democracy in the New Europe
- Fostering Public Awareness in the Year of
Tolerance
- Who is Who in Bulgarian Politics
- Library and Book Publishing
I. Information and Documentation Centre of the
Council of Europe
The Information and Documentation Centre of the
Council of Europe (IDCCE) in Bulgaria concentrated its efforts on
building a national information network of the Council of Europe.
Following an agreement for cooperation between the IDCCE and the
Open Society Fund, Sofia, two IDCCE information offices were opened
in Plovdiv and Pleven. News conferences by politicians, lectures of
Council of Europe officials, and exhibitions of Council of Europe
publications were organized as part of the opening ceremonies.
On January 24, 1994, IDCCE organized a meeting of
the Coordinating Committee on the participation of Bulgaria in the
activities of the Council of Europe with a view to coordinating the
programs for 1994.
In March 1994, IDCCE hosted a seminar on the
Intergovernmental Cooperation in the Council of Europe and its
Programs for Cooperation and Assistance with the Central and East
European Countries, which was attended by representatives of the
Council of Europe.
IDCCE hosted a news conference given by the members
of the Bulgarian Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, on November 1, 1994.
In 1994 IDCCE held the following public
lectures:
Professor Michael Branch, Director of the School of
Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London: "The
Reform of the British Higher Education System", April 4, 1994;
Hans Christian Krueger, Secretary of the European
Commission of Human Rights, and Michel de Silva, Deputy Secretary:
"Council of Europe's Mechanisms for Guaranteeing Human Rights", May
5, 1994;
Robin Guthrie, Director of Social and Economic
Affairs of the Council of Europe: "The Role of NGOs in the
Development of Civil Society in Eastern Europe", June 8, 1994;
HE Christel Steffler, Ambassador of the Federal
Republic of Germany to Bulgaria: "Europe after the Elections: New
Perspectives and Challenges", June 22, 1994;
Anne Marie Faradji from the Council of Europe
Directorate of Youth gave two lectures before leaders of youth
organizations on November 9, 1994 in Plovdiv, and November 10, 1994
in Blagoevgrad;
Dobrinka Chankova, Expert at the Parliamentary
Commission on Human Rights, gave two lectures on human rights
issues to students at the University of National and World Economy,
Sofia on November 11 and 14, 1994. The Council of Europe's film
Human Rights was shown to the students;
Borislav Petranov, Human Rights Expert, Woolfson
College, Oxford:
- "Council of Europe Human Rights Protection System:
European Convention on Human Rights, European Social Charter,
European Convention for the Prevention of Torture", November 28,
1994
- "Procedures of the Institutions under the European
Convention on Human Rights and Their Reform under Protocol No. 11",
November 30, 1994
- "Freedom of Expression: Hate Speech", December 1,
1994
- "Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion
According to the European Convention on Human Rights", December 2,
1994
- "Conditions for Admissibility of Appeals to the
European Commission on Human Rights", December 8, 1994
- "International Obligations of the Countries that
are Sides to the European Convention on Human Rights", December 9,
1994
- "Interpretation Rules of the European Court on
Human Rights and the Legal Force of its Decisions", December 12,
1994;
Dr. Antonina Angelova, Professor at the New
Bulgarian University, gave two lectures on the European mechanisms
for protection of human rights before students from the New
Bulgarian University on December 14 and 15, 1994. The Council of
Europe's film Human Rights was shown to the students.
IDCCE received 496 new documents, and was visited by
1041 readers in 1994. Nine books, films, and brochures presenting
the activities of the Council of Europe were translated into
Bulgarian. The Centre popularized the activities of the Council of
Europe in Bulgaria through radio, television and other news
media.
II. Democracy and Economic Reform Guide for
Bulgaria
This public education project is aimed at:
- improving the understanding among the general
public, and especially among high school students, of key political
and economic concepts;
- assisting educational reform in Bulgaria;
- identifying the most appropriate methods for
teaching politics and economics to students.
To this end, a number of essays on basic political
and economic concepts will be developed. A two-day conference held
on February 23-24, 1994 with the support of the Hanns Seidel
Foundation produced a list of 55 economic and 25 political concepts
to be discussed in a short essay form. These essays will be
published in the press, then aired on radio, and finally compiled
in a short textbook.
The first three experimental publications appeared
in the Standart News daily in August 1994. Two articles have been
published weekly in Kapital Press since October 1994.
Some essays were prepared for broadcast in the
production studio of Vitosha Radio with the help of a radio host
and the essays' authors. The first radio essay was aired in October
1994.
In order to analyze the audience's perception of the
essays, a project team started developing an electronic perception
analyzer system which was ready in September 1994. Three
experimental sessions were carried out with 23 respondents. This
enabled the project team to find the most suitable format in which
to present the essays to radio listeners.
III. Security and Democracy in the New
Europe
This project was carried out in cooperation with
King's College, London, the Netherlands Institute of International
Relations, The Hague, the Hellenic Foundation for European and
Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), Athens, and the Defense Studies Division,
University of Ljubljana. The project's objective was to assist
democratic institutions involved in issues of national security,
and to initiate wide public discussion on these issues.
Four seminars were organized in The Hague, Athens,
Ljubljana and Sofia with the participation of 20 representatives
from Central and East European countries, including Members of
Parliament, senior officials from the ministries of defense and
foreign affairs, political scientists and journalists. Bulgaria was
represented by Mr. Stephan Tafrov, Bulgarian Ambassador to Italy,
Dr. Evgenii Dainov, Publisher of Insider magazine, Mr. Krassimir
Nikolov, Research Fellow at the Centre for European Studies, and
Mr. Emil E. Georgiev from CSD. Leading West European experts in the
fields of defense and international relations, including professor
George Schopflin from the London School of Economics, Professor
Lawrence Freedman, King's College, London, MPs and ministers from
the host countries, lectured at these seminars.
During the international seminar "Security and
Democracy in the New Europe" held in Sofia on July 29 and 30, Mr.
Nickolay Slatinski, Chairman of the National Assembly Committee on
National Security presented a paper entitled "Europe, the Balkans,
and Bulgaria. National Security and National Idea". Comments on the
paper were provided by Dr. James Gow, Professor at the Centre for
Defence Studies, King's College, London, Professor Andrey Pantev
from the Department of History, Sofia University, Mr. Asparouh
Panov, Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe, and Mr. Solomon Passi, President of the Bulgarian
Atlantic Club.
Mr. Emil Georgiev, Coordinator of CSD's Information
Resources Program developed a paper, "Perspectives for Security
Co-operation in the Black Sea Area", which was presented at the
seminar Security Options for the Former Warsaw Treaty Organization
States, held at Wiston House, Essex, on May 20-25, 1994.
A paper on "Ethnic Minorities in Bulgaria" by Mr.
Georgiev was presented at the Minorities and Related Problems in
the Balkans seminar held in Ankara on October 27-29, 1994.
IV. Fostering Public Awareness in the Year of
Tolerance
The project was launched in November 1994. Its chief
objective is to provide rapid and reliable information and specific
policy recommendations to non-governmental, governmental, and
intergovernmental organizations involved in initiatives against
ethnic hatred, xenophobia, and intolerance in Bulgaria and the
Balkans. The collected information will facilitate the
decision-making process in these organizations and their work on
the implementation of the designed measures. Expert evaluations
based on such information will allow for better preparation and
stronger impact of the initiatives planned in Bulgaria in
connection with the Year of Tolerance.
V. Who is Who in Bulgarian
Politics
The project was launched in November 1994. Its
purpose is to prepare a biographical guide to current Bulgarian
politics and to create a database which will be constantly updated.
The guide will include an addendum outlining the structure and
operation of the Bulgarian government.
VI. Library
In addition to the materials of the Information and
Documentation Centre of the Council of Europe, CSD's collection of
books and documents was enlarged by 224 new entries, 87 of which
were purchased by CSD. The remainder were donated by the Sabre
Foundation, by the authors, or by other persons and organizations.
CSD received more than 45 publications of different international
and Bulgarian organizations in the fields of social and political
science, economics and law. The majority of these publications were
Reform Round Table (RRT) documents from countries participating in
the RRT project.
CSD received occasional papers and books by
prominent economists from the International Center for Economic
Growth (ICEG) in San Francisco. These papers were given away to key
policy-makers and experts from different government agencies in
Bulgaria. In response to a request from ICEG, CSD selected thirty
Bulgarian business representatives, government agencies and
scholars to receive the ICEG Newsletter.
The CSD Library received 57 Bulgarian and 111
foreign periodicals in 1994. Despite the delayed delivery of
foreign periodicals, some of them were of great interest to the
readers since they were only available at the CSD Library.
More than 1500 people visited the CSD Library in
1994. Most of the visitors were interested in the documents of the
Council of Europe as a result of the Information and Documentation
Centre's promotional activities aimed at popularizing the Council
of Europe in Bulgaria, and the job recruitment procedure announced
by the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in January 1994.
Professionals in international public law, education, culture,
urban development and self-governance were among the most regular
users of the Council of Europe's documents. Another large group of
readers consisted of people whose rights had been violated, and who
were interested in the procedures for appealing to the European
Court on Human Rights.
VII. Book Publishing
In 1994, the CSD Book Publishing Program worked on
four titles (including translation, editing and
pre-publication):
B. H. Blackwell's Encyclopedia of Political
Thought
Robert Dahl, Modern Political Analysis
The Spanish Transition to Democracy
(a collection of articles), vol. 2
Jurgen Habermas, Strukturwandel der
Иffentlichkeit
CSD continued distributing books already
published:
Giovanni Sartori, The Theory of Democracy
Revisited
Ralph Dahrendorf, The Modern Social Conflict
Ralph Dahrendorf, Reflections on the Revolution in
Europe
Robert Nisbet, The Quest for Community
James Fishkin, Democracy and Deliberation
J. S. Mill, On Liberty
Gertrude Himmelfarb, On Liberty and Liberalism
The Spanish Transition to Democracy
(a collection of articles), vol. 1
NTC International Student's Guide to the American
University
These books were supplied to a number of libraries
throughout the country, to institutes of higher education and other
organizations. CSD publications were also sold at the International
Book Exhibition in December 1994 in Sofia.
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