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INFORMATION BULLETIN
Mental Disability Advocacy Center
and Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
Bulgaria: UN demands increased focus on rights of children with disabilities
6 June 2008: Sofia, Budapest and
Geneva. The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) calls on the
Bulgarian government to guarantee the basic human rights of children
with disabilities and provide support so children can stay with
families.
The Mental Disability Advocacy Centre (MDAC) and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) welcome today's findings by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in its examination
of Bulgaria's compliance with the UN Convention on the Rights of the
Child.
In concurring with the submissions
of the two NGOs, the CRC expressed concern that persistent
discrimination against children with mental disabilities living in
institutions obstructs their access to basic rights such as education.
The CRC's findings are clear and resolute: all children - regardless of
disability or other irrelevant factors such as ethnicity - have the
right to education.
Addressing both the causes and consequences of the
high number of institutionalised children in Bulgaria, the CRC
recommended that the Bulgarian government:
ˇ redirect material and
human resources for developing community-based support services and
access to social protection to enable for children with disabilities to
remain within their families;
ˇ provide training for professional staff;
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implement a comprehensive data collection system, including information
on institutions as well as children's movement into and out of
institutional care and children's integration into other educational
programmes.
ˇ legislate to explicitly prohibit discrimination on the grounds of disability, including in the sphere of education.
The CRC also recommended that Bulgaria establish a formal system to monitor
human rights of children in institutions. Such inspectorates should
evaluate directors of the institutions with respect to their
responsibility to secure the rights of children living there, including
the exercise of their right to education. Such inspectorates are needed
because the existing State bodies fail to provide any human rights
oversight. For example, in a recent BBC documentary
about the Mogilino institution for disabled children, abuse and neglect
were obviously taking place. However, after an official investigation
the Bulgarian prosecution offices found no violation of the law.
MDAC and BHC welcome the CRC's recommendations and in
doing so extend their support to the Bulgarian government to close
these appalling institutions and ensure each child's human rights,
including the right to education, is respected. They also call upon Bulgaria to
swiftly ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, a treaty which also focuses on the rights of children.
Please donate to MDAC so that we can further protect the rights of children in Bulgaria.
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