On June 3, shortly after Children’s Day was celebrated, representatives of the Center for Independent Living celebrated Mimicry Day – caused by a social services illness that sentenced thousands of children and young people to an inability to live independently.

At a press conference in Sofia-press Kapka Panayotova, Mitko Nikolov and Nina Zhisheva from the Center for Independent Living presented a report “More from the same or Mimicry – a disease in social services in Bulgaria” – a comparative analysis of methodologies for providing different services in the community.

Yesterday’s meetings lined with concrete the status quo for several human life spans ahead.

At the death of a French king, one of those present rushed to say the phrase ” Le roi est mort; vive le roi!”, to make it clear to everyone that the kingdom is eternal. That the Territorial Expert Medical Commissions (for short, TEMC) are eternal, although to date they have survived only in our country and in Russia.

TO

 THE PRIME MINISTER

OF REPUBLIC OF BULGAIRA

THE MINISTER

OF LABOUR AND THE SOCIAL POLICIES

Another year has passed – the next one from the last twenty – without any reforms, reasonable changes nor even any intentions for such in the disability sphere.

This month, on January 26, we mark the fifth anniversary since Bulgaria ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention is a basic human’s rights document that regulates the rights of persons with disabilities to an independent and dignified life, protection against discrimination, the right to education and accessible architecture, transport and information. In signing this Convention, each State undertakes to abide by it and to comply with it. This in turn means that after 2012 in Bulgaria all policies should comply with the requirements of the Convention. Is it really so?

Just two months ago, the Center organized a press conference to tell the public – through the media of course – that no deinstitutionalization was taking place in Bulgaria. The interest in the subject was then weak. A few days ago, the broadcast was blown up by another case of violence against a disabled child in Shumen. The Minister of Social Policy – Zornitsa Rusinova – though new, reacted in the old way, namely to protect the social workers and the institution, which for us as citizens and human rights defenders was extremely inadequate and inhumane.

The insights of Mincho Koralski – Executive Director of the Disability Agency – told by him on January 15th in BNT’s morning bloc are impressive with their delays, alarming with the lack of up-to-date knowledge of disability policies, as well as the many internal contradictions in the profundity of a senior government official with influence in political decision-making.