MINELRES: Bulgaria: BHC Releases 2003 Human Rights Report

[MINELRES moderator]

Original sender: Desislava Simeonova <desislava@bghelsinki.org>


On April 5, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee released in English its
2003 Annual Human Rights Report (events of 2003).

The progress in the sphere of human rights protection, according to the
non-governmental organisation, is connected mainly with the improvement
of the legislative and institutional framework for human rights
protection. The biggest achievement is the adoption in September of an
Act for Protection from Discrimination.

The legislative and practical guarantees for protection of the right to
life in Bulgaria in 2003 continued to be below international standards,
although in comparison to previous years the number of deaths as a
result of excessive use of force by police and military personnel
decreased. The problems with inhuman conditions in places of detention
in the institutions for mentally disabled adults remain a serious cause
of concern.

The full text of the report is available on the BHC web site:

http://www.bghelsinki.org/annual/en/2003.htm (html), or

http://www.bghelsinki.org/annual/en/HumanRights_2003_en.doc (word
document)