When it comes to supporting human rights, any society should continuously develop and educate. The implementation of the activities of the proposed project is necessary because of the insufficient capacity of the legal community to protect fundamental rights and freedoms in accordance with the international standards ratified by Bulgaria, the lack of university education in human rights, which would ensure adequate knowledge about the standards for the implementation of the ECHR and the EU Charter in the country, and the concentration of knowledge in the experts of a limited number of NGOs. The aim of the project is, through various activities, to reach different representatives of the legal community and by increasing their knowledge, experience and sensitivity on the subject of fundamental rights and freedoms, to contribute to improving the implementation of established standards. By creating a community of young lawyers and training lawyers, it will contribute to the development and sharing of knowledge and skills among professionals from different regions. The dissemination of actual legal information and the conduct of strategic cases will increase the level of knowledge of standards among judges and representatives of the executive power – accumulation, which will also lead to changes in judicial practice and legislation. As a result of the project, it is expected that 180 lawyers from different regions will undergo three-day thematic training, 36 issues will be published in the “Human Rights” Bulletin, 10 legal opinions will be prepared for national institutions and 3 opinions for the Committee of Ministers, and at least 10 strategic cases will be filed. A community of young lawyers who will undergo practical and theoretical training will be created. The direct users of part of the activities of the project are public institutions, addressed to the legal authorities. The target groups are young people up to 29 years old, especially law students and young lawyers, and the general public.
ACTIVITIES OF ACF 59 “INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS IN FOCUS”
Strategic management activity:
The activity consists in the selection and procedural representation before national and international institutions of at least 10 strategic cases, through which structural problems in the Bulgarian legislation or judicial practice in the sphere of human rights are attacked.
Activity Preparation of opinions
Part of the permanent activity of the BAHR Foundation is the provision of opinions on cases before the Constitutional Court, on draft normative acts, on requests to the Constitutional Court of the Supreme Bar Council or on opinions, reports and proposals of the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria. The Foundation also monitors the implementation of decisions of the ECHR in the part of the general measures issued. Within the framework of this project activity, the Foundation prepares opinions to national institutions on problems affecting the protection of human rights, and opinions to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on cases placed under enhanced monitoring. This activity aims to improve the implementation of international human rights standards by public institutions by bringing Bulgarian legislation and practice into line with international acts.
You can see all opinions on the project here. тук
Activity Bulletin “Human Rights Case Law”
Publication of the free electronic monthly bulletin on human rights. The bulletin consists of selected, summarized and annotated in Bulgarian important for our society decisions of the ECHR and the CJEU, issued during the previous month. All decisions classified by the ECHR as significant (category 1 and 2) are summarized, as well as all decisions of the CJEU, issued under the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. The selected decisions are summarized in Bulgarian and annotated. All decisions issued in cases against Bulgaria are also annotated.
In parallel with the publication of the Bulletin, the catalog with annotations to the decisions published in the Bulletin, grouped by topics and subtopics, is also updated.
The newsletter is available free of charge to all users of the site, as well as to subscribers of the Newsletter.
All issues of the newsletter can be viewed here тук
Activity Young Lawyers Club (Agora)
The project has created a community of young lawyers and law students through interactive training with a practical focus on human rights standards and problem areas in national legislation and practice.
The activity consists of conducting three-hour discussions, within which problematic areas in Bulgarian legislation and practice from the point of view of the implementation of international standards and new key decisions of the ECHR and the CJEU for our country are discussed, as well as the possibilities for their implementation in Bulgaria through changes in judicial practice/normative framework.
Activity Summer Academy on Human Rights for Lawyers
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, this activity has not yet started and is expected to start in 2022. Within the activity, nine three-day training courses for lawyers will be held. In each cycle, we guarantee the participation of 20 lawyers from the region. The training is conducted by leading experts. The topics have been selected in light of the current problems in law enforcement, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights and the European Union of Economic and Social Affairs and the reports of international institutions regarding the state of legal protection of rights and fundamental freedoms in Bulgaria. The topics will also be tailored to the needs of the local bar (e.g. refugee law training will be held in AK Haskovo). BHK will conduct training on police detention, hate crimes and discrimination with a focus on Roma. The purpose of the activity is to transfer the experience and expertise gained by the two partner organizations in the field of implementing standards for the protection of human rights to colleagues from the region, which will increase the quality of the legal protection provided in the respective region, and hence the administration of justice.
The project is financed within the Active Citizens Bulgaria Fund with financial support provided by Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway under the EIP Financial Mechanism 2014-2021 in the amount of 134,898.17 euros. The main goal of the project is through various activities to reach different representatives of the legal community and by increasing their knowledge, experience and sensitivity on the subject of fundamental rights and freedoms, to contribute to improving the implementation of established human rights standards.
