Legal representation of unaccompanied children

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Since 2015, local municipalities are mandated to act as legal representatives of unaccompanied children.[1] Highly criticised when adopted, this approach proved to be more inadequate than previous arrangements. The municipalities lacked not only qualified staff, but also basic experience and expertise in child protection.[2] In addition to that, the number of legal representatives appointed – one or two per reception facility – was insufficient to meet the need of the population of unaccompanied children who, remained considerable in number.

At the end of 2020, amendments to the law introduced a major change in the legal representation of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children.[3] The obligation to represent these children not only in the procedure, but also after the recognition and before all agencies and institutions regarding their rights and entitlements, was shifted from the municipalities to the National Legal Aid Bureau. It includes requirements related to the qualification of the appointed legal aid lawyers and representation implemented in the child’s best interest.[4] It aimed at addressing the absence of guardians, and ensure proper legal representation and care for the best interests of unaccompanied children in asylum procedures to mitigate high rates of absconding and related protection and safety risks.

Starting from July 2021, 16 lawyers from the Sofia Bar, 8 lawyers from Haskovo Bar and 3 lawyers from Sliven Bar began implementing the representation of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. In December 2023, UNHCR supported NLAB with training for legal aid lawyers vis-à-vis the planned expansion of the limited list of Article 25 representatives.  In February 2024, NLAB recruited 20 additional lawyers (18 in Sofia and 2 in Haskovo). A follow-up training, also organized and funded by UNHCR, was held in December 2024. In September 2023, the non-governmental organisation Bulgarian Helsinki Committee communicated its first annual report assessing the quality of the representation provided by Article 25 legal aid lawyers. The general feedback from children remained predominantly positive with respect to legal aid lawyers acting in Sofia reception centres, while it was mainly negative with respect to legal aid lawyers acting in Harmanli reception centre.[5] The monitoring was extended in 2024, based on a formal agreement[6] between the Ministry of Justice and UNICEF. The next report, due in March 2025 has to provide both general findings about the overall quality of the legal representation as well as individual assessment of acting legal aid lawyers. On 14 March 2024 the NLAB Executive Committee decided that quality assessments of legal aid providers ought to be introduced in the law in order to allow striking of underperforming representatives out of the limited Article 25 list. Such amendments had been already proposed and included in the draft law, submitted by SAR in February 2024,[7] however the draft never made to the Parliament due to the continued constitutional crisis experienced by the country since mid-2022 (see, Overview).

In the past, the SAR used to significantly delay the notification to the National Legal Aid Bureau of the necessity to appoint a representative, reaching a period longer than 1 month in certain cases.[8] As a result, unaccompanied children left without a representative had no access to credible information on the asylum procedure and their rights, especially the right to be legally transferred under the Dublin III Regulation to other EU countries to reunite with their family members. In 2022 however, the practice in this respect improved significantly. NLAB agreed[9] with SAR to provide the latter with access to its automated individual database, which could be used not only to send an immediate notification by SAR to NLAB about requested new representative’s appointments, but also allowing the SAR to obtain immediately and directly information about the appointed representative. However, in 2024 the timely appointment of a representative to unaccompanied children was again delayed, this time by SAR which communicated to NLAB its appointment requests up to 15 days[10] following the registration of the children. In total, NLAB appointed a legal aid representative for 91% (2,392 out of all 2,601) of the unaccompanied children who applied for asylum in that year. This was improvement in comparison to 2023, when a legal aid representative has been appointed for 72%[11] of the children. However, the representation of 2,458 of these children was discontinued due to their abandonment of the procedure and absconding the country. Therefore, in reality just 214 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were represented by NLAB legal aid lawyers from start to end of their status determination.

The immediate and written provision of information to unaccompanied children regarding the appointment of the respective representative and their contact details is a legal obligation of the SAR.[12] Fully omitted until the very end of 2021, when such information began to be partially provided in Ovcha Kupel and Voenna Rampa safe-zones, in 2024 in 89% of the relevant cases monitored, children were duly and timely informed about the appointment of their representative.[13] This represented an improvement in comparison to the 2023 practice, when 81% of unaccompanied children were duly provided this information, but still worse than 2022 with 96% of the children duly informed about their legal aid appointment.[14]

Since mid-2022 the SAR has been actively searching for opportunities to accommodate unaccompanied children in licensed family-type children’s centres (ЦНСТ). During the procedure such efforts were undertaken with regard mainly to minor asylum-seeking children, children with special needs or such identified as being at increased risk of trafficking or harm. After the recognition, these efforts targeted all unaccompanied children, excluding those in family reunification procedures, whom were allowed to wait the reunification with their parents or other family members in SAR reception centres.[15] As a result of this positive practice, throughout 2024 62 unaccompanied children were accommodated in specialized childcare centres. Out of the total, 4 were asylum seeking children and 58 children who had been granted international protection.[16] In this respect, it can be noted that the children positively impacted by these measures continued to gradually increase[17] with more of them able to benefit by this most appropriate type of accommodation compared to previous years. Altogether thirteen licensed childcare centres have engaged in this practice in localities across the country, namely in Sofia, Burgas, Vidin, Ruse, Kardzhali, Novo Selo and Zvanichevo. At the same time the lack of specialized training of the childcare centre’s staff to work with unaccompanied children seeking or granted protection should be acknowledged and taken into account as well as the lack of secured interpretation at least for the initial period of accommodation and adjustment.

The number of unaccompanied child applicants decreased to 2,601 in 2024, compared to 3,843 in 2023; 3,483 in 2022; 3,127 in 2021; 799 in 2020; 524 in 2019; 481 in 201; 440 in 2017 and 2,772 in 2016:

Source: SAR.

Out of all unaccompanied children whose asylum claims were assessed on the merits in 2024, 1 child was recognised as a refugee, 77 were granted subsidiary protection, 136 received reject decisions and 2,458 children absconded prior to being notified the decision, and therefore their procedures were terminated.

Despite unaccompanied children being better informed about their rights and the asylum procedure, the vast majority (94%) still abandoned the asylum procedure and moved irregularly to the countries of their final destination.[18]

[1] Former Article 25(1) LAR.

[2] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2012, 2013, 2015 and 2016 Annual Refugee Status Determination Monitoring Reports, available at: https://bit.ly/49TvJdp. 

[3] National Parliament, Amendments on the Law on Asylum and Refugees (LAR), State Gazette No.89 from 16 October 2020, available at: https://bit.ly/2LoUMiG.

[4] Article 25 LAR.

[5] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee/UNICEF, Monthly Progress Report on child protection, 10 January 2024.

[6] Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation between Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Bulgaria and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), signed on 19 September 2024.

[7] SAR, reg.№ЦУ-04-408 from 14 February 2024.

[8] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2021 Annual RSD Monitoring Report, available at: https://bit.ly/3Ad4wlt.

[9] Teleconference with NLAB Chair Natalia Ilieva on 22 December 2022.

[10] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.

[11] Teleconference with NLAB Chair Natalia Ilieva on 22 December 2022: 3,348 children in 2022 and 34 children pending from 2021, of whom to 3,103 children the appointed legal aid was abolished due to absconding.

[12] Article 25(5) LAR.

[13] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2024 Annual RSD Report, 31 January 2025, available in Bulgarian at: https://bit.ly/3SX3ST7.

[14] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2023 and 2022 annual RSD reports, available at: https://bit.ly/3SX3ST7.

[15] SAR, Rules and procedures on the accommodation of unaccompanied children granted international protection in foster families, social or integrated socio-medical care facilities for children of a residential type, adopted in October 2022.

[16] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.

[17] Ibid., 2022: 26 children (2 asylum seeking and 24 granted protection); 2023: 43 children (2 asylum seeking and 41 granted protection); 2024: 62 children (4 asylum seeking and 58 granted protection).

[18] SAR, reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.