CCPR/C/118/D/2608/2015 Bulgaria, that subsequently they were transferred to a reception centre where the conditions were appalling and that they stayed there until September 2014, when they were asked to leave, as they had been granted refugee status. They reiterate that they were not given any instructions as to where to go, or how to get accommodation or food and that they managed to sneak back into the reception centre and lived there in hiding until they left Bulgaria. They further reiterate that the male author did not receive medical assistance in Bulgaria, despite his serious heart disease. 5.2 The authors further submit that it is not correct that refugees in Bulgaria have access to housing, work or social benefits, including health care and education. They reiterate that several reports document that the living conditions in Bulgaria for beneficiaries of international protection are deplorable, as no functional integration programme is in place, and that persons holding valid protection status face several difficulties in finding basic shelter, access to sanitary facilities and food. They refer to a report by the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, in which he states that he is concerned that the system to support the integration of refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection in Bulgarian society still suffers from serious deficiencies, mainly connected with the insufficient funding of the system. As a result, refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection in Bulgaria face serious integration challenges, which threaten their enjoyment of social and economic rights, including a serious risk of becoming homeless, high levels of unemployment, no real access to education and problems in accessing healthcare services. They are also vulnerable to hate crimes. 29 They also indicate that although it appears that persons granted refugee status are given the possibility to stay in the reception centres when they have no means of sustaining themselves, they can only stay for six months and that there are allegations of corruption by the staff of the reception centres, who are said to extort payment from the families for the right to stay. 30 The authors also quote a report by Amnesty International of 2015, according to which there is no integration plan for recognized refugees and other beneficiaries of international protection in Bulgaria, 31 and state that in August 2014, the Government of Bulgaria rejected a plan prepared by the State Agency for Refugees and the Ministry of Labour for the implementation of the national integration strategy, adopted early in 2014.32 The authors further submit that the serious integration challenges faced by asylum seekers and refugees in Bulgaria is not a temporary situation and that those who have been granted refugee status are in a worse position, as they seem to be excluded from reception facilities owing to their initial stay therein and the fact that they have left them. 5.3 With regard to the State party’s reference to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Samsam Mohammed Hussein and others v. the Netherlands and Italy, the authors submit that the issue at stake is not that refugees in Bulgaria significantly reduced material and social living conditions, but that the current living conditions there do not meet basic humanitarian standards, as required by conclusion No. 58 of the Executive Committee of UNHCR. They also indicate that based on their experience in Bulgaria, where they did not receive any assistance in finding accommodation after they were asked to leave the reception centre and were denied medical assistance, there is no basis for assuming that the Bulgarian authorities will prepare for the return of the family in accordance with basic humanitarian standards. Furthermore, they reiterate that the decision of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of 29 30 31 32 See “Report by Nils Muiznieks, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, following his visit to Bulgaria from 9 to 11 February 2015”, pp. 28-29. The authors further quote the report of the Commissioner, para. 128. See Amnesty International, The State of the World’s Human Rights 2014/2015. The authors cite Pro Asyl, Erniedrigt, misshandelt, schutzlos: Flüchtlinge in Bulgarien” (April 2015), available from www.asyl-saar.de/dokumente/bulgarien/Bulgarienbroschuere.pdf. 9