Bulgaria Bids Goodbye to Successful Year for Human Rights
13 December 2018 News
The National Coordinating Mechanism on Human Rights (NCMHR) held its sixth session at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister Yuri Sterk. In his address to the participants, Deputy Minister Sterk thanked the representatives of the state institutions and the nongovernmental sector in the NCMHR for their excellent cooperation.
“The past year has been exceptionally dynamic and successful as seen from the results of the first Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council,” Yuri Sterk observed. He went on to add that the Bulgarian Presidency had held a number of events dedicated to the rights of the child, the role of women in the digital world, the struggle against antisemitism, the rights of people with disabilities, and international cooperation in the area of human rights. “This has contributed to a significant improvement in the country’s visibility on these topics on the European agenda,” the Deputy Minister said.
He viewed the most important events highlighting Bulgaria’s first-ever accession as member of the UN Human Rights Council, where the country’s candidacy received the votes of 180 of a total of 188 voting member-states. “This is a token or recognition, but it comes with great responsibility. We will therefore continue to rely on the cooperation within the framework of the National Coordinating Mechanism in the development of national policies and positions regarding our participation in the Human Rights Council,” the Deputy Minister said.
He also highlighted Bulgaria’s accession as member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, the election of Genoveva Tisheva as member of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Antoaneta Vasileva’s election to the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) as important evidence of the international recognition for our country’s achievements in strengthening human rights.
The session continued with a discussion of the National Plan on UN Security Council Resolution 1325. This is the first international instrument to establish a direct link for women’s role in the avoidance and settlement of conflicts and peacemaking. Bulgaria is in the process of developing its first national plan. Michael Forbes, Ambassador of the Republic of Ireland to Bulgaria, who was a guest at today’s meeting, spoke about his country’s good practices in the preparation of the Irish national plan in implementation of the resolution.
The participants outlined Bulgaria’s upcoming tasks and commitments in the area of human rights. Representatives of the Ministries of Justice, Labor and Social Policy, Culture, Education and Science, Regional Development, Defense, Internal Affairs, and Health as well as the Ombudswoman of Bulgaria, Maya Manolova, attended the sixth session of the NCMHR. The state agencies for refugees and protection of children, the National Commission for Combating Human Trafficking, the Electronic Media Council, and other organizations, including some belonging to the non-governmental sector, were also represented.