We at the Foundation for Access to Rights – FAR believe that the civil society sector is first and foremost a corrective counterbalance to the public authorities. For years, we have been working on the creation of effective mechanisms to ensure access to the rights of migrants seeking protection, refugees and stateless persons. Our main mission is to raise institutional and public awareness and sensitivity to the problems of people fleeing war, conflict and persecution.

We support state’s efforts to find solutions to the unprecedented situation of displaced persons from Ukraine seeking protection in Bulgaria. These decisions should be sustainable and based on stable legal norms in order to allow predictability of the system of admission and integration.

At the same time, in recent months we have alarmingly observed the introduction of certain policies and measures which are in breach with the European Union law and create conditions for discrimination among the refugees.  Initially, the government set a division between refugees from Ukraine and other countries, and consequently a separation between those granted temporary protection and asylum seekers, leaving the access for Ukrainian refugees to international protection blocked. [1] Today, the results of these actions create additional tension and opposition that will have long-term consequences.

Moreover, at the expiry of the humanitarian program on 31 May 2022, Ukrainian refugees were transported from hotels to the buffer centre in Elhovo which resulted in serious non-material damage to the group, and more specifically to children, mothers and vulnerable refugees in terms of fear of the unknown, panic, anxiety, worry about providing food and shelter. We believe that this could have been avoided by providing timely and well-organized actions by the state, where the refugees themselves cannot be held accountable.

As an organization that has been working on the ground for years, and is committed to the protection of the rights of refugees in Bulgaria, we propose the following:

• To build a sustainable model that can provide integration support to refugees in the long term;
• The model of reception and integration should be based on a common strategy and approach to all asylum seekers in Bulgaria, regardless of where they come from, because ultimately, they all flee from danger to their lives and security;
• The individual approach should take into account not so much the nationality of refugees, but their special needs and belonging to vulnerable groups;
• There should be transparency and accountability about and the amount of money the state receives for refugees. Finance’s allocation should be made under clear criteria and after a public discussion, which will provide answers to the key questions, among which for example, whether centres such as the one in Elchovo or registration and reception centres with humane conditions should be built at first place;
• On difficult days, more than ever, we need leadership based on principles. In such a serious and exceptional situation on its scale, the state should not transfer responsibility for timely and adequate action to volunteers, refugees and the non-governmental sector.

We call on all institutions and organisations to remain true to their expertise and to the principles that define the high professional standard in legal practice. The Foundation for Access to Rights - FAR will continue to work steadfastly on the sound foundation of knowledge as we have done so far.