Awareness as to the rights of the accommodated foreigners and access to legal aid
The language barrier should be pointed out as one of the biggest problems of the homes
for temporary accommodation of foreigners. The lack of interpreters makes the
communication between the accommodated people and the officers of the homes difficult.
The NPM team finds disturbing the claims of the interviewed foreigners that they have
not been informed about the reasons for their detention, as well as they do not receive the
information they request as to the stage of development of their expulsion/deportation
procedure or the proceedings before SAR in case of filed protection application.
The fact that with the amendments of the Legal Aid Law (SG, issue 28 of 19 March 2013),
art. 22, para 1, item 9 free of charge legal air for foreigners, against whom administrative
measure is enforced, and foreigners placed in special home for temporary
accommodation of foreigners under the provisions of the Law on Foreigners in the
Republic of Bulgaria, who do not have funds and wish to use lawyer protection, is
envisaged, should be pointed out as positive development.
During the inspection the NPM team found a problem with the availability of specialised
staff at the homes, which requires the opening of additional positions for interviewers,
assistant interviewers, psychologists, medical specialists.
Medical care
Medical care to the accommodated foreigners is provided by the medical services of the
Medical Institute of the MI, located on the territory of the SHTAF. The language barrier is
the main obstacle to the provision of quality medical services. The interviewed foreigners
shared their concerns of the insufficient availability of pharmaceuticals and the lack of
concern to their complaints by the medical personnel. Another difficulty in treatment is
related to the lack of health medical documentation for foreigners suffering chronic
diseases. The NPM team found problems with the immunisation status of the
accommodated children.
The psychological help to the accommodated foreigners is not sufficiently provided. Two
psychologists consult approximately 100-150 people, which casts doubts as to the
efficiency of the help provided. The provision of dental services to the accommodated
foreigners is extremely difficult as well.
During the inspections the NPM team did not found problems with respect to consents on
the applications filed by the accommodated individuals for meetings with diplomatic
representatives and consular authorities, their right to correspondence and telephone
calls, as well as visits and meetings with a lawyer.
NPM inspection in relation to violence used
The NPM carried out an inspection on 30 November 2013 in relation to an incident at
SHTAF - Lyubimets. The preliminary findings indicate that:
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