CCPR/C/121/D/2585/2015 in finding housing, in practice it is almost impossible for them to find a job or a place to live.9 Access to health care is very difficult, as they need to provide an address which, for most asylum seekers and persons in need of international protection, is almost impossible to get.10 Conditions for children in particular have been described as particularly problematic by UNHCR, which stressed “the urgent need for asylum-seeking children and children found to be in need of international protection to be provided with access to education without further delay within the Bulgarian school curriculum”.11 3.3 The authors further indicate that integration in Bulgarian society is almost impossible, as once asylum seekers obtain refugee status or subsidiary protection, they stop receiving the monthly 65 leva ($36) allocated to them during the asylum procedure. As a result, they face extreme poverty and are forced to live in unfinished and abandoned buildings located near the asylum centres.12 They also refer to a UNHCR report according to which there is a protection gap for these persons once they are granted refugee status or subsidiary protection. In particular, they have to pay a monthly instalment of approximately 17 leva (approximately $9), as do nationals, in order to access medical services, although they usually have no income. In addition, medicines and psychological care are not covered by the health-care system.13 3.4 The authors point out that once a person is granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, he or she has to move out of the reception centre in a matter of days. Further, even if refugees are entitled to receive a home allowance, the State agency for refugees has stopped paying it because it has run out of funds, forcing many families to live on the streets.14 The authors also refer to a report by the Danish Refugee Council according to which the short-term solutions for asylum-seeking families in Bulgaria are not sustainable.15 3.5 The authors further refer to background documentation according to which Bulgaria faces serious problems of xenophobic violence and harassment, which remain unaddressed by the authorities. To this end, they cite a report according to which “institutional racism” exists in Bulgaria in the form of racist statements made by high-level politicians, which fuel violent physical attacks on asylum seekers and refugees. As a result, such attacks have recently increased.16 The authors also refer to the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, in particular the case of Abdu v. Bulgaria, where the Court established that the Bulgarian authorities had failed to properly investigate an alleged racist attack on a Sudanese national.17 3.6 The authors refer to general comment No. 20 (1992) on the prohibition of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, in which the Committee held that it is the duty of the State party to afford everyone protection against the acts prohibited by article 7 of the Covenant, and they must not expose individuals to the danger of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment upon return to another country by 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 UNHCR, Where is my home? Homelessness and Access to Housing among Asylum-Seekers, Refugees and Persons with International Protection in Bulgaria (Sofia, 2013), available from www.refworld.org/docid/51b57c864.html; and Iliana Savova, National Country Report: Bulgaria (Asylum Information Database, 2014), available from www.asylumineurope.org/sites/default/files/ report-download/aidabulgariareport_secondupdate_final.pdf. UNHCR, Where is my home?, pp. 11-13. Bulgaria as a Country of Asylum: UNHCR Observations on the Current Situation of Asylum in Bulgaria (2014), p. 13, available from www.refworld.org/docid/534cd85b4.html. Human Rights Watch, Containment Plan: Bulgaria’s Pushbacks and Detention of Syrian and Other Asylum Seekers and Migrants (2014), p. 5, available from www.hrw.org/report/2014/04/28/ containment-plan/bulgarias-pushbacks-and-detention-syrian-and-other-asylum-seekers. UNHCR Observations on the Current Asylum System in Bulgaria, p. 12. Jodi Hilton, “Syrians face bleak time in Bulgaria’s broken asylum system”, IRIN, 22 October 2013, available from www.irinnews.org/report/98983/syrians-face-bleak-time-bulgaria%E2%80%99sbroken-asylum-system. Notat om forhold for asylansøgere og flygtninge i Bulgarien, November 2014. Hristova, Trapped in Europe’s Quagmire, p. 32. See application No. 26827/08, judgment of 11 March 2014, paras. 40–53. 5