governmental organisations, as well as psychologist provided by the SAR. NPM is of the
opinion that the problems with the unaccompanied minors or under aged foreigners
require first and foremost legislative and then administrative solutions, as the difficulties
in this area should be deemed a priority and should be considered jointly with the
competent state authorities in order to establish a mechanism, by means of which the
problems identified to be resolved, because the unaccompanied minors and under aged
foreigners, seeking or granted protection, are amongst the most vulnerable groups;
- timely opening of doctor's offices for paediatric care in the accommodation centres or in
immediate proximity thereto and formation of paediatric teams which are to serve the children of
the individuals seeking protection, regardless of whether they are registered or not.
With respect of the provision of medical care the NPM was informed that a number of
measures have been taken. The MH, through the RHI, tests all migrants entering the
country at its own expense. The set of tests required is coordinated with the national
consultants. At a meeting of the Departmental Headquarters of the MH a decision was
made for the immunisation of all children up to 15 years of age. MMA participates with a
team of 4 doctors in the initial medical examinations of the refugees in Elhovo. In the
period 4 September 2013 - 24 October 2013 30 medical teams with specialists from the
MMA have been sent to the Accommodation Centre in Elhovo. The language barrier and
the difficult communication with the patients seems to be a major problem for the
medical specialists.
In 2014 the NPM will continue investigating these problems during future inspections in
the refugee centres.
2. Illegal migrants protection
In 2013 the NPM carried out 4 inspections in the special homes for temporary
accommodation of foreigners (SHTAF) in Sofia and in Lyubimets within the Migration
Directorate of MI. Three of them were part of the approved annual schedule, and one - in
relation to a signal regarding beating of accommodated foreigners by the security staff at
the SHTAF - Lyubimets.
During the initial inspections (March - August 2013) the NPM found that there have been
many cases of individuals, mainly Syrian citizens, seeking protection from the war, who
have filed refugee or humanitarian status applications before the State Agency for
Refugees with the Council of Ministers, who, due to the delayed registration and
processing of the filed applications, remain detained at the SHTAF, together with the
illegal migrants. NPM recognises the problems related to the significant workload of the
officers, the shortage of sufficient human resources and motivation within the structural
units of SAR, as well as the full capacity of the open-type centres, but the NPM believes
that the detention of people who have filed applications for protection in closed-type
centres is unacceptable. The subsequent inspection showed significant improvement in
the coordination between the Migration Directorate and SAR and acceleration of the
transfer of the people seeking protection of the open-type centres of SAR.
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