ERRC announcement of publication
Date: Wed, 14 Jan 98 19:03:51 -0500
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
Subject: ERRC announcement of publication
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Claude Cahn <[email protected]>
ERRC announcement of publication
January 9, 1997
Press Release: Announcement of Publication
The European Roma Rights Center (ERRC), an international public interest law
organisation which monitors the situation of Roma in Europe and provides
legal defence in cases of human rights abuse, announces publication of
Profession: Prisoner: Roma in Detention in Bulgaria.
In early 1997, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee was granted permission to
enter all of the prisons in Bulgaria and interview inmates.
Over the period April-August 1997, human rights researchers visited prisons
throughout Bulgaria and conducted interviews with inmates there. As a result
, a body of interview material that significantly broadens existing
knowledge of human rights abuses against Roma in places of detention in
Bulgaria was made available to the European Roma Rights Center. Profession:
Prisoner is the result of this research.
In the course of their work, researchers documented abuses including but not
limited to: abuses of Roma in police detention facilities; abuses of Roma in
investigative detention; over-representation of Roma in the prison system;
physical abuse of Roma in prisons; infringements on the human rights in
connection with the use of disciplinary cells; overcrowding, malnutrition,
poor material condition of the prisons themselves and inadequate medical
services in the prisons.
Following a discussion of the history of Roma in Bulgaria and their
relation to the societies, governments and states which have existed on the
territory of the present-day Bulgaria, the contemporary problem of abuse of
Roma by the police, which is closely related to the subject matter of the
report, is discussed in brief. The chapters comprising the body of the
report address the situation of Roma in police detention, in the facilities
of the National Investigation Service, and in the prison system. The report
then addresses the failure of Bulgarian authorities to stop and adequately
punish the abuse of prisoners by state powers. The ERRC concludes its report
on Roma in detention in Bulgaria with the following recommendations to the
Bulgarian government:
1. Take steps to investigate promptly all cases of ill-treatment and torture
in places of detention. Particular attention should be drawn to the cases in
which there is evidence that these practices are motivated by the race or
ethnicity of the victims. Those responsible should be brought to justice.
2. Guarantee immediate access to a lawyer from the moment of detention and
throughout the preliminary investigation for all persons detained. For those
detainees who have no sufficient means to pay for legal assistance, counsel
should be provided by the government free of charge, as required by Article
6(3)(c) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
3. Guarantee access to medical examination for all detainees by a qualified
doctor from the moment of detention. A written report of the doctor should
be given to the detainee or to his/her lawyer or a member of the family.
4. Introduce measures to ensure the full implementation of Article 6 of the
UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination,
guaranteeing the right to effective protection and remedies in cases of
racially motivated offences.
5. Amend legislation to provide for effective remedies - including recovery
of damages and prosecution of responsible officials - for abuses of the
length of detention on remand. Ensure that a control mechanism exists to
sanction differential treatment of Roma on an ethnic bases when making
decisions of detention.
6. Establish a more effective system of official supervision of places of
detention. Ensure that prosecutors fulfil their duties under Article 119(6)
of the Law on the Judiciary, i.e. regularly visit places of detention,
investigate alleged violations of the law and take appropriate steps to
redress them. In addition, a special civilian review board should be
established and empowered at the municipal level to receive and investigate
any reports of torture or ill-treatment and visit all places of detention.
Roma should be adequately represented on such a body.
7. Establish an independent body such as a parliamentary commission or
ombudsman mandated to screen police, investigative and penitentiary
practices for overt and covert racial discrimination, and to ensure that any
discrimination perpetrated by members of the police force, the National
Investigation Service or the penitentiary establishments be treated with the
severity necessary to emphasise the gravity of such offences.
8. Take immediate concrete steps to alleviate prison overcrowding. Make sure
that Roma prisoners are not treated differently in this respect on ground of
their ethnicity.
9. Cease the practice of keeping prisoners on a general regime locked in
their cells during the day.
10. Ensure that sufficient funds are provided in order to create and
maintain living conditions in compliance with the internationally accepted
minimum standards in all places of detention. Provide prisoners with
adequate medical care and psychological counseling.
11. Provide work and vocational training for prisoners.
12. Abolish provisions requiring that prisoners pay for translators in order
to hold conversations in languages other then Bulgarian during visits.
Copies of the report can be obtained from the European Roma Rights Center at
a cost of 8 US Dollars per report by writing to:
European Roma Rights Center
H-1525 Budapest 114
PO Box 10/24
Hungary
tel: (36-1) 327-9877
fax: (36-1) 138-3727
The ERRC prefers bank transfer as a method of payment to the following bank
account:
Account holder: European Roma Rights Center
Account number: B 110772, OTP Bank Rt.
1085-Budapest
Joszef krt. 33
Hungary
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