13 organizations, working in the field of minority integration, left the meeting of the Bulgaria’s National Council on Ethnic Integration Issues (NCEII) yesterday with the motives that the Council does not answer the social needs and must be either reorganized or replaced with а brand-new governmental structure.
The NGO representatives explained that last week they had submitted to the Council of Ministers an open letter with four basic demands, which need to be considered within the caretaker government mandate. One of their ideas proposes that the government establish a clear institutional and administrative structure which will be responsible for the implementation and realization of the state Roma Integration Strategy. The NGOs further want institutions to watch for racist manifestations as well as to guarantee the compliance of civil rights, because there are neither Roma nor Bulgarian rights, but universal human rights.
Roma representatives also expressed their dissatisfaction with the fact that there was no Roma expert, member of NCEII’s secretariat.
More on the topic in dnevnik.bg (in Bulgarian)