Authors: Adela Kachaunova, Antoaneta Nenkova, Atanas Atanasov, Vessislava Ivanova, Dilyana Angelova, Iveta Savova, Iliana Savova, Kaloyan Stanev, Krassimir Kanev, Margarita Ilieva, Radoslav Stoyanov, Slavka Kukova, Stanimir Petrov, Yana Bürer-Tavanie
ISSN: 2367-6930
In 2016, Bulgaria faced serious challenges in the field of human rights. Among these was the stagnation in addressing the problems of ethnic and religious minorities in Bulgaria — the discrimination of Roma in the areas of education, employment, housing, healthcare, and the criminal justice system; the exclusion of Roma and other minority groups from political life and governance; restrictions on the ability of minority religious and ethnic communities to associate; the impunity for incitement to hatred, discrimination, and violence against Roma, Muslims, and migrants; and the stagnation in the deinstitutionalization of care for children and people with mental disorders. The treatment of migrants, most of whom were passing through Bulgaria on their way to Western European countries, remained a serious challenge. Judicial reform, particularly of the prosecution system, also stagnated during the year. Freedom of expression continued to decline. As in previous years, corruption continued to erode nearly all areas of public life and remained unpunished.
The report is available in Bulgarian.