Amnesty International: Refugees, Roma Continue to be Mistreated in Bulgaria

In its annual report on the state of human rights in the world released on Wednesday, Amnesty International states that refugees and Roma continued to be mistreated in Bulgaria in 2015.

According to the report, there continued to be alleged push-backs of refugees and migrants by border police, reception conditions of asylum-seekers remained poor, while the country had no integration plan for recognized refugees.

Amnesty International also notes that local and national authorities continued to forcibly evict Roma and that the amendment of legislation on hate crime had stalled.

The report claims that the number of refugees and migrants entering through the border with Turkey increased four times after the significant drop registered in 2014 due to the introduction of border protection measures.

The document mentions the plan of Bulgarian authorities to extend the 33-kilometre fence on the border with Turkey by sixty kilometers to divert migrant influx to official border crossings.

However NGOs informed that people who were in search of international protection and attempted to enter Bulgaria through checkpoints were rejected.

Amnesty International reminds of the incident in October last year in which an Afghan asylum-seeker was killed after a shot fired by a border police officer reportedly ricocheted off a bridge.

The report notes that Bulgaria continued to lack integration plan for refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection.

Although the government adopted a national strategy on migration, asylum and integration for the 2015-2020 period, no action plan on its implementation followed suit.

The reception conditions, in particular with regard to food, shelter and access to healthcare and sanitary...