Domestic and Gender-Based Violence: Victims Support Model

Author(s): Elmira Nesheva,Daniela Kolarova,Rumen Minkovski / Language(s): English

Freedom from violence, regardless of its form, is every human being’s fundamental right. The rights to life, liberty and security of person have been regulated in the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as in the European Convention on Human Rights. The purpose of the Victims Support Model is to provide information and to present the currently existing activities, services and departments, which operate in the area of domestic and gender-based violence. The proposed Model accepts that the strong prevalence of the phenomena and the consequences thereof necessitate that it is treated as a public health issue. For this reason, an approach is being proposed, which defines and outlines the roots and the consequences of this problem in Bulgaria, identifies the risk and protective factors, and proposes strategies for effective resolution, including activities on prevention, timely reaction, and follow-up.

The Informal Economy in the EU Accession Countries: Size, Scope, Trends and Challenges in the Process of EU Enlargement

Author(s): / Language(s): English

Twelve countries of Central and Eastern Europe are preparing for accession to the European Union. The informal economy in these countries is a phenomenon, which may bring challenges to the process of European integration because of the insufficient knowledge about its possible implications for an enlarged union. How large is the informal economy in Central and Eastern Europe? What are its sources? In what direction is it evolving? How is it different from the informal activities in EU member states? Does it represent an obstacle to further European integration? Or maybe it can serve as a bridge between accession countries and member states? The network "Toward European Integration", launched by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the World Bank, has brought together scholars and policy analysts from different countries in a first attempt to cooperate in finding answers to these and related questions.

Антикорупция. Учебно помагало

Author(s): / Language(s): Bulgarian

It is the first manual in its kind in Bulgarian language. The manual is to be included in a university curriculum (the New Bulgarian University) and a number of other private and state-owned universities have been approached with the same purpose. The manual, edited by Dr. Antony Todorov, Associate-Professor at the NBU, is composed of 14 topics, written by a number of anti-corruption experts. It was published as a part of the Clean Future Coalition 2000 Awareness campaign. The Anticorruption manual contains the following chapters: Legal concept of corruption; Models of corruption behavior; Corruption monitoring; Spheres and forms of corruption; Abuse of political power; Corruption in the judiciary and the police; Economy and corruption; Corruption in international relations; Funding of the political parties; Legal reform against corruption; Administrative reform against corruption; Civil society against corruption; Professional codes against corruption; International co-operation against corruption.

Медиите срещу корупцията: Пречки и рискове за разследващата журналистика

Author(s): Krasimir Dobrev / Language(s): Bulgarian

This is the latest joint publication of CiviLink Foundation and Coalition 2000, dedicated to problems which investigative journalists face, while revealing corruption cases and affairs. The author, Krassimir Dobrev, is a well-known journalist and JD graduate. As a leading analyst of "Sega" Daily, Mr. Dobrev worked on several issues related to political corruption. The author expresses an opinion, that the newly adopted Law on the Access to Public Information creates rather new obstacles for journalists, than to facilitate their efforts. There still exists a legal gap in defining such notions as "an official secret". In addition, the author reviews the major legal risks that journalists face. The book outlines his "practical advice to beginners" and how to avoid libel charges. The publication also contains some of the documents relevant to investigative journalism such as the full text of Recommendation No R (2000) 7 of the Council of Ministers to the Council of Europe. The book is designed for journalists, media law experts and politicians.

Корупцията в парламентарната практика и законодателния процес

Author(s): / Language(s): Bulgarian

Evgenii Dainov,director of the CSP, writes in its preface: "Without democracy - i.e. without transparency in decision-making and without public control on decision-makers - development is not possible. Corruption thrives exactly where the light of publicity does not reach." The reader contains a number of texts which provide an answer to the questions of the nature of the concept of "political corruption", its unfavorable consequences on society, etc. The problems of corruption against the background of parliamentary practice in the western countries, and in Great Britain and the USA above all, are specifically discussed. A separate section is devoted to the transition to market economy in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Национално изследване на домашното насилие и насилието, основано на полов признак. Аналитичен доклад

Author(s): Slavyanka Ivanova / Language(s): Bulgarian

Bulgaria is among those half of EU-member states where statistical information about victim-offender relationship is not gathered, hereby making impossible the assessment of the share of domestic violence among crimes against the person. Domestic violence is not qualified as a criminal offence and is still not included in the Criminal Code – and respectively, in statistical data provided by the Police and by the National Statistical Institute. Information about numbers of complaints for domestic violence registered in the police and numbers of cases of domestic violence submitted to the courts are not present in the publicly available statistics either. The current report is part of the National Study on Domestic and Gender Based Violence (DGBV) and Elaboration of Victims Support Model (VSM), developed under Programme Area 29, BG12: Domestic and Gender Based Violence, Measure 3: Research and data collection of the Norwegian Financial Mechanism, in response to their aims: research and collection of data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV. The general objective of the study is to contribute to the prevention of DGBV and to improve the situation of DGBV victims in Bulgaria, with specific focus on Roma women and girls. The specific objective is to develop knowledge and expertise regarding the situation of domestic and gender-based violence to ensure that all stakeholders including the Bulgarian government can access strong independent analysis in order to facilitate better informed and evidence-based policy decisions. This objective is achieved by conducting quantitative and qualitative study in Bulgaria which provides data regarding the prevalence and measures to prevent and combat DGBV among the general and Roma population. Additional objective is to develop and pilot a Victims Support Model (VSM), which aimed to involve local community in the assistance and protection of DGBV victims and engage the key local stakeholders (police departments, service providers, local authorities, Roma organizations).

Антикорупционните реформи в България

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The report makes an overview of the conducted anticorruption reforms in Bulgaria since 1997 and analyses the spheres of penetration, as well as the levels and dynamics of corruption in the Bulgarian society and presents the major achievements and problems of anticorruption reforms. It also defines the challenges for the conducting of anticorruption reforms, which ensue from the pending accession of Bulgaria to the European Union: i.e. overcoming of structural and institutional barriers in counteracting corruption; effective functioning of judiciary and law enforcement systems; restriction of corruption-generating practices of the organized crime and grey economy.Coalition 2000 is an initiative of Bulgarian non-governmental organizations launched in the spring of 1997, which aims at counteracting corruption in th Bulgarian society through a partnership between state institutions, non-governmental organizations and individuals, who developed and have been implementing an Anti-Corruption Action Plan, a Corruption Monitoring System, and an anti-corruption public awareness campaign.

Антикорупционните реформи в България на прага на членството в Европейския съюз

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

This is the seventh consecutive Corruption Assessment Report providing an overview of the state and dynamics of corruption in Bulgaria and Bulgarian anti-corruption policy. It analyzes the main opportunities and challenges of the anti-corruption process in the context of Bulgaria’s approaching accession to the EU. The report builds on regular monitoring of the spread of corruption, its trends, evaluations of the anti-corruption efforts and initiatives implemented by government institutions and by civil society, as well as a number of suggestions and recommendations on anti-corruption measures. 2005 marked a reversal of the positive trend in the decline of corruption since 1998, while still emaining at half the level of seven years ago. This development suggests that “soft” anti-corruption measures have exhausted their potential and more effective approaches to counteract and prevent corruption must be found, especially at the administrative and political levels. These should be supported through a corruption monitoring and assessment by civil society of the public sector, articularly the agencies administering EU’s structural funds. The report also refers to external risks which could emerge after Bulgaria’s accession to the EU.

Заплахите за финансовите интереси на Европейския съюз: оценка на риска от злоупотреби при обществените поръчки и използването на европейските фондове

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

Public procurement is among the governmental activities most vulnerable to corruption and fraudulent activities. Despite the controls in place, a number of government contracts give rise to errors, anomalies, fraud, misuse of public funds or corruption. The present compilation of selected best practices addresses the threat of fraud and corruption in the area of public procurement.

Подпомагане и реинтеграция на деца – жертви на трафик: Подобряване на политиката и практиката в страните от Европейския съюз

Author(s): / Language(s): Bulgarian

This Handbook presents the main results of an in-depth evaluation study of the legal, policy and practical frameworks for assistance to and reintegration of child victims of trafficking in six EU Member States – Austria, Bulgaria, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Sweden. The three reports included in this Handbook are based on three standardised methodologies for examination of legal and policy frameworks, for evaluation of programmes for assistance and re/integration of child victims of trafficking and for indentification of good practices in this area. The reports analyse the relevance of legal frameworks for the needs of trafficked children and the effectiveness of services for such children in different areas of assistance, such as: identification of trafficked children, appointment of a guardian, individual case assessment, regularisation of status, interim care and protection, durable solutions and longterm re/integration. The reports offer a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of assistance and reintegration programs and discuss identified challenges that need to be addressed in countries of both destination and origin in order to assure better protection and assistance to trafficked children across the EU.

Индекс за мониторинг на условията в затворите: методология и пилотни резултати

Author(s): Dimitar Markov,Maria Doichinova / Language(s): Bulgarian

International organisations, national governments and human rights NGOs exercise various types of monitoring of the penitentiary systems. In order to quantify their results, there are some generally accepted indicators (such as the number of inmates per 100.000 citizens), but in many specific areas like healthcare, employment, security and safety, such indicators have never been applied. Therefore, those monitoring efforts will substantially benefit from an instrument capable of supplying comparable and easy-to-use data on the situation in prisons. To address this need, the Center for the Study of Democracy, in cooperation with the Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, the Observatory on the Penal System and Human Rights with the University of Barcelona, the Law Institute of Lithuania and Association Droit au Droit, developed a Prison Conditions Monitoring Index (PCMI) – a system of indicators translating into comparable figures the situation in different prisons. In the end of 2014, the PCMI was piloted in several prisons in Bulgaria, Germany and Lithuania to test its operability and analyse the potential use of the results it generates. The present report elaborates on the methodology underlying the PCMI and offers a summary of the results of its pilot implementation. It is intended for a broad audience of readers including policy makers, prison staff, lawyers, social workers, academics and NGOs interested in the topic of prison monitoring.

Институционални индикатори за управление на делата в наказателното правосъдие: Международни и национални индикатори, ситуацията в България и Полша

Author(s): Nicola Giovannini,Malena Zingoni,Miriana Ilcheva,Paweł Wiliński,Petr Karlík / Language(s): Bulgarian

This publication reviews the existing practices of courts’ performance measurement and criminal cases management based on the concepts of efficiency and effectiveness, transparency, quality care, benchmarking, result orientation and accountability. These efforts are considered on supranational and national level as two components of the process of implementing a quality model in the justice sector, growing increasingly intense at EU level. At national level, the report examines the achievements in implementing performance indicators in England and Wales, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, France and Spain, as well as in Romania. The normative, policy and strategic framework of Bulgaria and Poland is also tackled in order to cover the prospects for introduction of such indicators in the two target countries.

Мониторинг на скриената економија во Македонија: трендови и можни политики

Author(s): Ana Mickovska-Raleva,Emil Shurkov / Language(s): Macedonian

Macedonia features in many discussions as a country with high hidden economy. The European Commission has repeatedly voiced its concerns in its regular country reports about the size and proliferation of hidden economy practices. Hidden employment or undeclared work in Macedonia is of particular concern to the authorities, provided the very high and stubborn levels of official unemployment and low employment levels. However, most studies and research on the matter involve a high level of ambiguity, as they refer to specific narrow outcomes of the hidden economy, usually towards a specific point in time, with dynamics being difficult to trace. The current report, prepared jointly by the Center for the Study of Democracy (CSD) and the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM), Macedonia proposes a methodology that would allow the tracing of the dynamics of the hidden economy and its components (e.g. hidden turnover, hidden employment, etc.) over time. This would make possible for the Macedonian government and its European partners to follow the impact and assess the effectiveness of their policies for tackling the hidden economy. Estimates suggest that the hidden economy size in Macedonia ranges from 24% to 47% of its GDP according to different measurement methods. The current report indicates that the percentage of hidden salaries remains the most acute concern, with the employment income of some 40% of Macedonian employees being at least partially undeclared. Moreover, 7% of all Macedonian employees work without a contract, and are not being paid any social security contributions whatsoever. The interviewed business representatives confirmed wide scale violations of the Labour Code. Over half of those respondents claimed that signing contracts with ‘hidden clauses’ (not accounting for the full remuneration paid out) were commonplace in their sector. Moreover, large-scale tax evasion seems to continue to pose a serious problem for the Macedonian economy and social system as the government tries to adjust them in order to be compatible with the principles of the market economy without imposing too extensive erosion of the social fabric and the existing social benefits. Tax avoidance is especially widespread among the poorest members of the society, which makes the underprivileged especially vulnerable as they may find themselves being criminally prosecuted for unpaid taxes or charged with paying large penalties. VAT returns are provided back to companies with significant time lags and represent additional burden for companies which are part of the formal economy. The issuance of cash register receipts also remains an issue, as only less than a half of the respondents claimed that they always received receipts when buying groceries. The situation is similar with the purchase of services.

Наказание на свобода: възможни алтернативи на затвора в Европейския съюз

Author(s): Christine M. Graebsch,Sven-Uwe Burkhardt / Language(s): Bulgarian

The issue of imprisonment vs. alternative penalties has been debated in various European countries during the last decades, and ambulant sanctions have been heavily on the rise. Community sentences and other alternatives to imprisonment are regarded as modern instruments for the rehabilitation of offenders. The objective of the present study is to examine the scope of application of penalties without deprivation of liberty as compared to imprisonment as well as to identify promising practices of alternative criminal sanctioning in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain and Lithuania. As this study covers several European countries, the comparative perspective suggests itself nearly as a matter of course. In this connection, it seems reasonable to describe the existing ambulant sanctions of the different member states involved, taking into account their legal arrangement and their relation within the system of penal sanctions including their relation to the deprivation of liberty. It in addition appears sensible to describe and compare these ambulant sanctions with reference to their contribution to the re-socialisation or rehabilitation of those subjected to them as well as with special attention to the involvement of civil society in their execution. In a further step, promising practices in connection with ambulant sanctions could be highlighted which may be recommended for imitation by other member states. Such an approach proves to be impossible for multiple reasons, though, and it would be inadequate just to make such an attempt. There are exemplary references to ambulant sanctions in Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Lithuania and Spain. This is due to the fact that scientists from these countries have taken part in the realisation of this project but not necessarily because of specific outstanding features of their sanction systems in comparison with other member states.

Правото на защита и принципът на равнопоставеност на страните в българския наказателен процес

Author(s): Maria Yordanova,Dimitar Markov,Miriana Ilcheva / Language(s): Bulgarian

The publication analyses the regulation of the right of defence in Bulgaria and explores the principle of equality of the parties in the pre-trial phase. For the purposes of the study the authors present the system of judicial and investigative bodies as well as the most important characteristics of the criminal proceedings, in particular of the pre-trial proceedings. The study discusses the rights of the defence counsels and their procedural role and outlines a number of problems that attorneys face in defending their clients during the criminal proceedings.

Престъпление без наказание: противодействие на корупцията и организираната престъпност в България

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Bulgarian

The report provides an overview of the state and dynamics of the corruption in Bulgaria as well as of the Bulgarian anticorruption policy and initiatives during the first two years of Bulgaria`s EU membership. This period can be described with a high rate of crimes without punishment such as political corruption and organized crime. This report explores the facets and sources of political corruption in Bulgaria. It tracks the dynamics of the hidden economy in the country and the main channels for corrupt interaction between business and politics.

Съдебната реформа: прокуратурата и разследващите органи в контекста на членството в Европейския съюз

Author(s): / Language(s): Bulgarian

This is the second publication of the Center for the Study of Democracy dedicated to the judicial reform in relation to the place and the role of the prosecution office and the investigation service. It presents the experience of the European Union Member States and the candidate countries as regards the organization and the structure of the prosecution office and the investigating authorities. It contains contributions from representatives of the courts, the prosecution offices and the investigating authorities of Spain, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic as well as judges, investigators, representatives of the legislature and the executive and non-governmental organizations in Bulgaria. The publication aims to continue the broad public and expert discussion on the different options to reform the judiciary in Bulgaria, following the successful models implemented in other countries.

Тенденции на престъпността в България: полицейска статистика и виктимизационни изследвания

Author(s): Tihomir Bezlov,Philip Gounev,Alexander Stoyanov,Maria Yordanova / Language(s): Bulgarian

The report uses a crime victimization survey as an alternative analytical tool to make an independent assessment of the crime situation in Bulgaria for the period 2001–2004. The crime victimization survey polls people’s experiences with crime. Unlike official government crime statistics, the regular crime victimization surveys help the police and government authorities, as well as the public to understand: • whether the official police crime data reflect the real crime rate and crime trends; • the volume of the unreported crime; • the reasons victims do not report crimes to the police; • whether the police avoids registering reported crimes; • the profile of the social groups that are most at risk of falling victims to crime.

Policy Report on Media Independence and Freedom of Expression in Macedonia. Legalizing Restrictions of the Freedom of the Press

Author(s): Kalina Lechevska,Artan Sadiku,Jordan Šišovski / Language(s): English

The origin and transformation of Sexes

Author(s): Konstantinos Maritsas / Language(s): English

I started writing this book with only one question – What is the meaning of sex? On this question there are thousands of books, but until the present day there has been no answer.Nature has created many ways for the reproduction of species. Some have disappeared along with the species, some still exist today. But in practice, species that reproduce bisexually have conquered the planet, with man as its chief representative. And not only this. According to Darwin, the existence of the sexes, male and female, is so important that it leads to “sexual selection”, which dominates even “natural selection”: