Tomorrow, on the 6th of November 2020, a hearing in the UN regarding human rights and the rights of trans and intersex people in Bulgaria will take place. Youth LGBT Organization Deystvie and our colleagues from Bilitis and GLAS have submitted our opinions to the Working Group. On the 10th of November, the meeting for adoption of recommendations for Bulgaria will begin. Our focus was on rights of same-sex couples, same-sex families with children, protection from hate crimes and others.
The human rights situation in Bulgaria will be examined by the Working Group of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Human Rights Council of the UN for the third time on Friday, the 6th of November 2020, in a meeting which will be broadcast live via webcast.
Bulgaria is one of 14 countries which will be examined by the UPR Working Group during the upcoming session which will take place between the 2nd and 13th of November. The first and second examinations of Bulgaria by the UPR were done in November 2010 and May 2015. The documents which the examinations are based on are: 1) a national report – information provided by the country being examined; 2) information from the reports of independent experts and human rights groups, known as Special Procedures, human rights treaty bodies, other UN bodies; 3) information provided by other interested states, including national human rights institutions, regional organizations and the civil society.
The UPR is a unique process involving a periodic review of the human rights status in all 193 member states of the UN. From the first review in April 2008 until now, all 193 member states of the UN have been examined twice within the first and second cycle of the UPR. During the third cycle of the UPR, states are expected to present the measures taken to follow the recommendations made to them during the first and second cycles, as well as the current development of human rights in the country.
Bulgaria’s delegation will be led by Georg Georgiev, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. The three states whose representatives will present their report on Bulgaria are Japan, Senegal and Slovakia.
The session webcast will be streamed on the 6th of November between 11:00 and 14:30 Bulgarian time here: http://webtv.un.org
To receive a consultation or to report discrimination or a homophobic or transphobic incident or hate crime, contact Deystvie’s National LGBTI Legal Program at legal@deystvie.org
The project is made possible with the financial help of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria (www.activecitizensfund.bg ) under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism. Youth LGBT Organization Deystvie takes full responsibility for the contents of the event and it should not, under any circumstances, be taken as the official position of the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism or the operator of the Active Citizens Fund Bulgaria.
The project is part of the National LGBTI Legal Program whose main goal is empowering the LGBTI community by ensuring direct access to legal defense in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Veliko Tarnovo.
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