Today, Helsinki organizations dedicated to the protection of human rights exist all over Europe. Their history begins more than 40 years ago…
Today, Helsinki organizations dedicated to the protection of human rights exist all over Europe. Their history begins more than 40 years ago…
In 1975, thirty-five countries from Europe and North America met in Helsinki, Finland, for a conference of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Among them were the Soviet Union and all European countries (except Albania and Andorra), Canada, and the United States. The conference ended with the signing of the politically and morally binding Helsinki Final Act. At the time, this was the only international agreement that attempted to link peace and security with respect for human rights. The parties to this document united in an organization that is now known as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). In parallel, non-governmental structures began to form. They joined the “Helsinki Process” as independent, non-political organizations and monitored the implementation of the commitments made by the states.
In 1982, the International Helsinki Federation (IHF) was founded as a structure through which independent Helsinki committees could support each other and strengthen the human rights movement internationally. The International Secretariat was established in Vienna. The first members were the Helsinki Committees of Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United States. The creation of the IHF was partly inspired by Andrei Sakharov’s call for the establishment of a “single international committee for the protection of all members of the Helsinki group”. In its early years, the federation achieved a number of successes, supporting human rights behind the Iron Curtain, protecting dissidents, presenting documentation to the then Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (now the OSCE), and supporting civil society.
On July 14, 1992, at the office of “Ekoglasnost” on “Narodno Sabranie” Square in Sofia, a group of Bulgarian citizens founded the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC). This makes it the oldest still active human rights organization in the country. Its founders are Kalina Bozeva, Maria Bakardzhieva, Antoaneta Nenkova, Juliana Metodieva, Emil Cohen, Tanya Marincheshka, Koprinka Chervenkova, Petar Slabakov, Pravda Spasova, Krasimir Kanev, Dimitrina Petrova, Antonina Zhelyazkova, Yonko Grozev and Danail Danov. In 1993, the committee became a member of the IHF, which until its dissolution included 46 Helsinki committees and independent human rights groups in Europe, the former Soviet Union and North America. Today, independent Helsinki organizations continue to exist in dozens of European countries. Soon after the organization was founded, its monitoring and research program began, which during the first two years of the BHC’s activity conducted observations of segregated Roma neighborhoods in Bulgaria, monitored religious freedom through visits to religious denominations, monitored through prison visits, investigated police violence in the country, and participated in joint projects with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch. The artist Stefan Despodov (1950–2015) created the organization’s first graphic symbol.
In that year, the BHC’s Legal Aid Program for Refugees and Migrants was established, headed by Tanya Marincheshka. Subsequently, the program was headed by attorney Iliana Savova. In that year, the BHC also made its first visit to psychiatric hospitals in Bulgaria. The results of the observations were included in the organization’s first special report on the situation in places of deprivation of liberty – “Monitoring of the Situation in Places of Deprivation of Liberty and Some Psychiatric Hospitals in Bulgaria” – published in 1995.
The Legal Program of the Bulgarian Humanitarian Law Center was established, headed by attorney Yonko Grozev, co-founder of the organization. The work of the program is supported by legal associates and among the first issues it focuses on are anti-Roma police violence and religious freedom. The directors of the program over the years have been attorney Yonko Grozev (1995 – 2005), attorney Margarita Ilieva (2005 – 2017) and attorney Adela Kachaunova (since 2017).
In the spring of this year, BHC researchers were allowed into the detention facilities for the first time and for about two years they visited the 75 detention centers then in operation. In September 2001, the research concluded with a publication entitled “Pre-trial detention centers in Bulgaria”. It analyzed the state of the rights of persons placed in pre-trial detention centers and made recommendations to the responsible state institutions to bring the conditions in the detention centers into line with international standards for the treatment of prisoners.
At the initiative of attorney Margarita Ilieva, director of the BHC legal program, the organization established the “Person of the Year” award – awards for people or organizations for specific human rights activities that protect human rights, animal rights or nature conservation. The awards are symbolic and their only material expression is a plaque. They are presented annually on or around December 10 – International Human Rights Day. The first laureates of the awards are Albena Boneva, Kostadinka Arsova and Mimi Furnadzhieva, judges of the Supreme Administrative Court.
The Communications and Campaigns program was established. Its first head was journalist Jana Buhrer Tavanier. The program was responsible for organizing the public communication of the Bulgarian Humanitarian Club and preparing various communication products – press releases, books, websites and social media pages.
The Program for Legal Assistance to Refugees and Migrants begins publishing an annual report on the access of those seeking international protection to the country’s territory and the procedure for granting protection.
