Bulgaria
MDAC has been working in Bulgaria with partner NGOs and lawyers since 2002.
Current situation
Bulgaria has a major problem with institutional warehousing of people with mental disabilities, including abandonment of children in institutions. The right to live in the community is denied due to lack of community support services and that successive governments have failed to implement de-institutionalisation plans. Placement in institutions results in severe restrictions of the rights of children to inclusive education, and the rights of all people with disabilities to live in the community, to have a family life and to participate in society. As demonstrated by the monitoring and reporting by one of MDAC’s NGO partners, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, ill-treatment, abuse and neglect continue in children’s institutions despite international attention.
Bulgarian law does not respect the right to legal capacity, with people under guardianship being deprived access to justice and political participation.
MDAC activities
With the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, MDAC has an active litigation docket both in domestic courts and at the European Court of Human Rights, and has achieved some notable successes, including:
Case of Georgi Cenov: The applicant is a person whose legal capacity had been restricted and who had lived in an institution all his life. Through litigation his legal capacity was restored and he was allowed to leave the institution to live in a supported residence in the community.
BH v. Ministry of the Interior: BH is a woman who was reported to be suffering from mental illness but did not meet any criteria for involuntary placement in a psychiatric facility. Domestic courts found violations of her human rights and awarded compensation for her suffering.
MDAC v. Bulgaria: MDAC brought a case to the European Committee on Social Rights challenging the complete lack of education of children in “Homes for Mentally Disabled Children”. The Committee found that Bulgaria had violated its obligations under Article 17 of the Revised European Social Charter to provide an education to all children, and found a violation of the right to non-discrimination (Article E).
On 17 January 2012 in the case of Stanev v. Bulgaria the European Court of Human Rights delivered a judgment saying that Bulgaria violated Article 5 (1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The Court found that the applicant's invountary placement in a social care institution by his guardian constituted deprivation of liberty, the first time that the Court has made such a finding. As Mr. Stanev was legally unable to challenge or seek compensation for his detention, Articles 5(4) and 5(5) of the ECHR had been violated. The Court also held unanimously that Mr. Stanev had been subjected to degrading treatment in violation of Article 3 of the ECHR by being forced to live for more than seven years in unsanitary and unlivable conditions and that domestic law did not provide him any remedy for such violations. This is the first case in which the Court has found a violation of Article 3 in a social care setting. The Court also found a violation of Mr. Stanev's right to a fair trial under Article 6 because he had no direct access to bring a proceeding to challenge his placement under guardianship.
Other cases pending before the European Court include cases related to a death in a psychiatric hospital of a person who was subjected to both chemical and physical restraints and the State’s failure to investigate the death; the death of a person in a social care institution and the State’s failure to investigate the death and allegations of abuse and mistreatment; and cases related to involuntary detention in psychiatric institutions.
MDAC is currently supporting attorneys at the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee who are pursuing prosecutions of deaths and abuses in children’s institutions uncovered in its monitoring work.
Advocacy: MDAC is involved in an NGO coalition to advocate for Bulgaria’s ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. MDAC is also involved in domestic advocacy for reform of guardianship laws. MDAC is developing a strategy for advocacy following the judgement in the Stanev case.
Research and monitoring: In 2008 MDAC produced a report on Guardianship and Human Rights in Bulgaria (in English and Bulgarian).MDAC’s NGO partner, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, has been monitoring disability institutions since 1997, and in 2010 they produced a report following monitoring of children’s institutions, revealing the deaths of 238 children over ten years. The findings from the monitoring can be found here. In addition, MDAC is part of a team of organisations carrying out research in Bulgaria for the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights.
