Author
The law provides a definition of vulnerability. According to the provision “applicant in need of special procedural guarantees” means an applicant from a vulnerable group who needs special guarantees to be able to benefit from the rights and comply with the obligations provided for in the law.[1] Applicants who are children, unaccompanied children, disabled, elderly, pregnant, single parents taking care of underage children, victims of trafficking, persons with serious health issues, psychological disorders or persons who suffered torture, rape or other forms of psychological, physical or sexual violence are considered as individuals belonging to a vulnerable group.[2]
There are no specific measures either in law or in practice to address the needs of these vulnerable categories, except for some additional practical arrangements in place to ensure the provision of medication or nutrition necessary for certain serious chronic illnesses, e.g. diabetes, epilepsy, etc. The law only requires that vulnerability has to be taken into account when deciding on accommodation, but this is applied discretionally, and no guidelines on the application of such a criterion are provided by the SAR. In 2018, the SAR adopted new internal rules of procedure whereby social experts provide assistance to its staff during the initial medical examination so as to enable the early identification of vulnerable applicants and their special needs.[3] If an applicant is identified as vulnerable, the new rules foresee that the vulnerability will be added to the registration form, including a detailed explanation and a follow-up assessment to be described in an appendix. Additionally, an early identification questionnaire was established for applicants who experienced traumatising experiences in order to determine their special needs and to facilitate the referral to adequate psychological or medical care.[4]
Monitoring in 2024
In 2024, a needs assessment was carried out only in 50% of the monitored vulnerable cases, while the assessment was missing in the remaining 50% of cases of asylum seekers, who were falling within the definition of vulnerability under national law.[5] Despite the 2015 reform of the law which stripped the statutory social workers of the child protection services from the responsibility to represent unaccompanied children in asylum procedures (see Legal Representation of Unaccompanied Children), their obligation to provide a social report with an opinion on the best interests of the child concerned in every individual case remains nonetheless under the provisions of general child care legislation.[6] In 2024, these reports were either not produced or not communicated to the SAR’s caseworkers for further consideration in 59% of the monitored cases.[7] In addition, in 55% of the monitored cases the statutory social workers of the ASA carried out an intervention during the interview they attended, while in the remaining 45% of the cases they were present but did not take any action, nor did they participate or intervene to clarify the case or support the child.[8] Therefore in 2024, needs assessment as well as planning and provision of support measures with respect to applicants with identified vulnerabilities were carried out only sporadically, rather than in a systematic way.
An applicant’s belonging to a vulnerable group has to be taken into account by the authorities when deciding on accommodation.[9] In practice, except the two safe-zones for unaccompanied children other separate facilities for vulnerable applicants, families, single women or traumatised asylum seekers do not exist in the reception centres.
Families, single women and traumatised asylum seekers are not accommodated in separated facilities, but in separate floors in the reception centres’ facilities, mainly due to the overall lack of SAR reception capacity.[10] There is no formal policy to prevent mixed-sex accommodation, however in practice the single women and the families are accommodated in separate floors in Sofia centres and separate buildings in Harmanli reception centre. These floors are equipped with separate toilets and bathrooms. No specific measures are put in place in reception centres to prevent gender-based violence, except separate accommodation of single women, families and safe-zone for the unaccompanied children. All SAR social workers are female; however, the interviewers and the interpreters often are not from the same sex as the asylum seeker, and the information about the right to have an interpreter or interviewer from the same sex is not provided in all cases. In just 13% of the cases the applicant was informed about the possibility to request an interviewer of the same gender, and only in 45% about the possibility to request an interpreter of the same gender.
Reception of unaccompanied children
In July 2017, the State Agency for Child Protection and national stakeholders developed SOPs to safeguard unaccompanied migrant and refugee children identified to be present in Bulgaria. Although the SOPs for unaccompanied children were endorsed by the National Child Protection Council,[11] the final formal endorsement by the government has not been formally given up to the moment, which makes the developed SOPs for unaccompanied children inapplicable in practice. In 2024, due to the ongoing constitutional crisis (see, Overview of the main changes) it was in practice impossible to put forward any legal or institutional arrangements beyond areas pertaining the key national priorities (e.g., full Schengen accession). As of 31 December 2024, no progress was achieved in this regard (see section on Identification).
The two safe zones for unaccompanied children at the Sofia reception centre continued to be maintained under an IOM project, funded by AMIF until the end of 2024. In May 2024, a third safe zone dedicated to hosting children with a capacity for 98 places was open[12] in the biggest reception centre in Harmanli, following a collaboration with UNICEF and IOM, funded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). Overall, the conditions in the safe zones were better compared to all other SAR accommodation premises. The abovementioned serious security problems existing in reception centres and their surroundings in 2024 however affected the overall safety of unaccompanied children as well, although improvement in this respect is expected following the security being handed over to the police (see above). In 2024, the number of unaccompanied children who sought protection in Bulgaria decreased by 48%,[13] though the capacity of the three safe zones (a total of 386 places[14]) would still be insufficient to shelter all newcomers if it was not for the extremely high (92%) absconding rate for this group of asylum seekers.
The LAR provides that unaccompanied children are accommodated in families of relatives, foster families, child shelters of residential type, specialised orphanages or other facilities with special conditions for unaccompanied children.[15] In practice, none of these opportunities was used or applied until 2022, when the SAR began to actively search 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, who were allowed to wait the reunification with their parents or other family members in SAR reception centres.[16] Starting from 2022, SAR has finally begun investing systematic efforts to accommodate unaccompanied children to specialized child care facilities, and in 2024 continued to gradually increase[17] the number of the children who were able to benefit by this most appropriate type of accommodation. As a result of this positive practice, in 2024 62 unaccompanied children were accommodated in specialized childcare centres. Out of this number, 4 were asylum seeking children and 58 children granted international protection. Altogether eleven 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, some challenges emerge in practice: first of all, the staff of the childcare centre lacks of specialized training to work with unaccompanied children seeking or granted protection; secondly, the provision of interpretation services is not always ensured, at least for the initial period of accommodation and adjustment. Altogether ten 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.
At the end of 2017, the EEA Grants secured considerable funding for the State Agency for Child Protection as well as for the Bulgarian Red Cross to jointly establish and run an Interim Care Centre for unaccompanied children, proposed and endorsed by UNICEF and UNHCR. Given that by 31 December 2021 the centre had not been established, the donor withdrew the funding and the project was abandoned.
In 2021, following the incidents and fire at the Greek Moria Camp, Bulgaria pledged to relocate unaccompanied children. Out of 32 children who initially consented to be relocated to Bulgaria, only 17 arrived by the end of 2021 and were accommodated in a specially prepared unit in Harmanli reception centre.
Reception of victims of violence
Back in 2008, the SAR and UNHCR adopted standard operating procedures (SOPs) with respect to treatment of victims of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV).[18] In 2014, both agencies agreed that the SOPs need to be updated,[19] as they have never been applied in practice, but also to include other categories applicants with special needs. At the end of 2021, SAR endorsed the revisions, but the NGOs monitoring could not confirm any implementation of the SGBV SOPs in practice until the end of 2023.[20]
[1] Additional Provision 1(16) LAR.
[2] Additional Provision 1(17) LAR.
[3] Article 29 SAR Internal Rules of Procedure; SAR, Internal Rules of Procedure for assessing and granting international protection, adopted on 17 December 2018.
[4] Early Identification and Needs Assessment form (ФИОН), Individual Support and Referral Plan form (ФИПП) and Social Consultation form (ФСК).
[5] §1(17) Additional Provisions, LAR.
[6] Article 15(4) and (6) Law on Child Protection.
[7] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2024 Annual RSD Monitoring Report, 31 January 2025, available at: https://bit.ly/3Jkd3t0.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Article 29(4) LAR.
[10] See Overview of the main changes since the previous report update.
[11] State Agency for Child Protection, ‘Тридесет и шестото редовно заседание на Националния съвет за закрила на детето се проведе в зала „Гранитна“ на Министерски съвет’, 11 July 2017, available in Bulgarian at: http://bit.ly/2FzwLxk.
[12] SAR, Откриване на сигурна зона за непридружени деца-бежанци в РПЦ-Харманли, 16 May 2024, available in Bulgarian here.
[13] 2024: 2,601 unaccompanied children; 2023: 3,843 unaccompanied children / 2022: 3,348 unaccompanied children / 2021: 3,172 unaccompanied children.
[14] SAR reg. №АД-07-7 from 14 January 2025.
[15] Article 29(10) LAR.
[16] 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.
[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] Standard Operating Procedures on sexual and gender-based violence, Exh. No 630, 27 February 2008.
[19] UNHCR, SGBV Task Force, established on 15 February 2014.
[20] Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, 2023 Annual Refugee Status Determination Monitoring Report, 31 January 2024, available at: https://bit.ly/3SX3ST7.