UN Human Rights Committee says Bulgaria should close all children's institutions

There is a report about children’s institutions in Bulgaria. This report says that children in Bulgarian institutions are often treated badly. That is why the United Nations demand that the children’s institutions in Bulgaria close.

In an attempt to protect the rights of children – including those with disabilities- , the UN Human Rights Committee has asked the Bulgarian government to urgently take on initiatives in order to create alternative solutions of care, which will replace the children’s institutions.The UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) is the monitoring body of the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It has recently issued its concluding observations from its review of Bulgaria. These recommendations were influenced in part by a parallel report written by the Mental Disability Advocacy Center and the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee.

This report to the Committee was based on the investigations that BHC carried out in 2010 which documented 238 deaths of children in institutions as well as numerous cases of physical and sexual abuse. It also provided data showing that the number of children in institutions is higher than reported by the government, and that there are many children with disabilities in institutions other than those designated as institutions for children with disabilities (currently between 2,500 to 3,000 children with disabilities live in institutions).

"While noting the adoption of a plan to close children’s institutions by 2025, the Committee expressed its concern at the number of children who will remain in the institutions for the next 15 years, the plan’s lack of concrete measures to set up a community-based system of care and the lack of a monitoring system for implementation of the plan. Specifically, except for zero-tolerance policy on violent and discriminatory practices against children and adults with disabilities in medical settings, the Committee also recommended that the Bulgarian government should:

• urgently take action to close all children’s institutions;

• establish practical alternatives to institutionalisation with sufficient funds to create and maintain a sustainable system of human rights-compliant care; and

• establish a monitoring procedure to assess the implementation and results of the plan of action to close all children’s institutions and create new alternatives for child care."

Souce: Mental Disability Advocacy Centre