Contributed by: Liliya Sazonova, Bulgaria National Violence Against Women Monitor

The following three documents were submitted by the Bulgarian National Violence Against Women Monitor, Liliya Sazonova of the Center of Women’s Studies and Policies

The 16 days campaign 2005 in Bulgaria

The 16 days campaign 2005 in Bulgaria officially started for the 15th time with a press conference organized by Nadja Center and the Bulgarian Media Coalition with the financial support of the British Embassy in Bulgaria on 25 November 2005. Given that this is the first campaign in Bulgaria following the adoption of an important Law regulating domestic violence, the focus of the campaign this year is the social aspect of domestic violence and its consequences for children as well as the implementation of the newly adopted piece of legislation.

During the 16 Days of Activism, posters and brochures designed for the campaign are going to be disseminated throughout the country.

In this regard, the organizers announced that they received assistance from the Municipality of Sofia to disseminate posters and brochures in public transport, and similar a decision from the Bulgarian Football Company is expected so that anti-violence materials can be distributed and attached to the tickets during football games. Furthermore, answering a question of a NGO representative, the Deputy Major of Sofia who participated in the press conference promised that the Municipality will finally support the non-governmental initiatives and will provide a building to shelter victims of violence in the capital.

Representatives of the show business like duet Karisma, Doni, Rock-band “Te” and many others expressed their willingness to participate in the campaign in order to popularize the initiative. Also, a video dedicated to the problem of violence was produced by the above-mentioned group Karisma and will be broadcast in several radio and TV programs.

Some of the non-governmental organizations provided statistics on the number of cases of domestic violence in the country – the Regional Court in Sofia issued 40 decisions for immediate protection of victims of violence, the Regional court in Haskovo – took 12 such decisions, in Burgas – 23, in Plovdiv - 38.     

Open Door Center in Pleven announced that a special movie about its social enterprise and shelter for victims of violence will be broadcast on the National TV on 29 November. For more details about the good practice, refer to the What’s New Section of the Bulgarian Page on STOPVAW from 10/26/2005.

After the press conference, a working group was organized where representatives of media, governmental and nongovernmental organizations discussed the strategy and activities of the Bulgarian campaign. During the meeting the STOPVAW website and the electronic newspaper were promoted and all participants were encouraged to submit short materials about their activities as a part of the campaign so that they are posted on the website.

The closing conference when all participants will share their conclusions and ideas for the 16 Days of Activism 2006 Campaign will take place on 10 December 2005 in Sofia.

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Center of Women’s Studies and Policies participates in the campaign

The CWSP replied to the Call for Action of the Center for Women’s Global Leadership and announced in advance this year’s 16 Days Campaign Against Violence Against Women: “FOR THE HEALTH OF WOMEN, FOR THE HEALTH OF THE WORLD: NO MORE VIOLENCE” (25 November -10 December).

As usual, the CWSP participates in this year’s campaign by collecting information about Bulgarian initiatives dedicated to the 16 Days of Activism against Violence against Women. CWSP provides Bulgarian activities with publicity by publishing them in out electronic Newsletter on Violence against Women, and by posting them both on the CWSP’s site and the Bulgarian page of the International STOPVAW site (www.stopvaw.org ).

Additionally, CWSP translated in Bulgarian and uploaded some of the materials concerning this year 16 Days Campaign disseminated by the Center for Women's Global Leadership. For instance, CWSP sent s Bulgarian translation of the Current campaign announcement (in Microsoft Word format) to the Center for Women’s Global Leadership so that it can be posted together with the English, Spanish, French, Polish and Arabic ones, mobilizing Bulgarian women’s rights activists and broadening the scope of possible readers and participants in the campaign.

Within the framework of the 16 days campaign the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Bulgaria and the Center of Women’s Studies and Policies organized on 28 November 2005 a Roundtable discussion on: Women's Participation in Politics and Decision Making, dedicated to the 10^th anniversary of the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the 5^th anniversary of the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals. The roundtable is aimed at promoting women’s participation in the decision-making process and this way by influencing the

Theater Cvete - Women for Present

positive image of women in society to reduce the possibility of violence against women. Moreover, many of the invited  leaders of the parliamentary represented political parties, Members of Parliament, representatives of the executive, NGOs, political scientists, sociologists and pollsters, gender equality experts were among the key actors in the drafting and lobbying for the adoption of the Law on Protection against Domestic Violence.

The Roundtable will discuss the Parliamentary Elections (June, 2005) regarding the recruitment and nomination of women in the party lists on elective positions, and the achieved results; the participation of women in local governance and local authorities; the declared gender equality in legislation and parties’ programs  and its realization de facto; the differences between gender equality and equal treatment of men and women; the difference between anti-discrimination measures and affirmative measures for gender equality; how to achieve competent political debate and efficient governance through equal participation of women and men and not through quantitatively measured representation;  possibilities for collaboration between political parties and the civil society in that area.

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Women for Present Days and Theatre Cvete

The Association of Women for Present Days organized a radio broadcast program discussing women’s problems with special focus on violence against women in the Bulgarian National Radio on 22 November.

Additionally, the Association of Women for Present Days together with Theatre Cvete presented a Forum-Theatre /theatre playback about violence against women and other women’s issues on 25 November. Among the invited people were representatives of institutions, the legislature, judicature, police, employer unions, trade unions, non government organizations, MPs, women board to the government, municipal councilors, media etc.

The theatre-discussion started with performances of women’s stories of violence and misunderstanding based on genuine women’s cases. In the second part of the performance the conductor addressed the audience with a request to propose ways of transformation of the presented female situations – when and how the action can be changed in order to transform the constrain or tragedy. The audience offered who and how can impact the situation and was invited to share its own experience in relative situations. Meanwhile a journalist carried out interviews with representatives of governmental and nongovernmental bodies and institutions.

Based on the performance, a documentary film is to be prepared about the kind of problems women face and their readiness to share them and look for assistance in order to overcome them. Importantly, the informal atmosphere in the discussion following the play encouraged representatives of different institutions to share their view and establish contacts among each other. The documented performance and the discussion after will be emitted by National TV channels and are intended to serve as a mean of impact upon representatives of institutions, women’s advocates, active members of political organizations, etc.