Bulgarian Citizens in Support of Truth
02/03/2008
Despite the efforts of Bulgarian MEP's to stop the screening of 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children' at the EU Parliament next week, support for the film and demands for European pressure are growing within the country.
Well known and highly vocal groups like the Bulgarian Mothers Movement and the Writers Association have been sent a petition to MEP's from all countries in support of the film as accurate portrayals of life for a child in institutional care.. The petition also states that pressure from European Union neighbors will be critical to any Bulgarian government undertaking to resolve the situation and implement appropriate social provision for disabled and deprived children.
The Bulgarian Mothers Movement has been actively involved with social care homes throughout the country for many years. Their increasingly contempt for care standards provided to abandoned children has led to angry protests outside the Labour and Social Policy Department in Sofia and demands for Emilia Maslarova, the minister responsible, to be sacked.
The petition reads:
Bulgarian Citizens in Support of Truth
Dear Members of Parliament, representing the member states of United Europe:
We are writing to you with a desire to make it known that there is a civil society in Bulgaria which does not agree with the position of those Bulgarian members of the European Parliament who oppose the screening of the “Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children” documentary, scheduled for March 4, for you, representatives of the democratic societies of United Europe. We hold a firm belief that the film has to be shown, that it truthfully presents the situation in the children’s home in Mogilino in the period in which it was shot as well as the reality, the anguish and hopelessness of all Bulgarian children with disabilities, weak, helpless and abandoned, entirely dependent on society and state.
We plead that the film be screened in the name of all 8600 children in institutions who, according to the last available projections, will be 10 000 by the end of the year. The only respectable way to protect the honor and name of Bulgaria is for our state to take immediate action to resolve the problem of children in institutionalized care, to guarantee their future with both sound legislative changes and solid funding. We hope that the screening of this documentary will initiate a wide discussion in Europe’s parliament, which in itself would pressure the Bulgarian government to take quick and effective action in regard to children in institutionalized care.
We want to declare our disagreement with the position that the just presentation of the problems of institutionalized children will injure Bulgaria’s prestige. We do not believe that it is an attack on the culture, art or mentality of a peaceful, hard-working and civilized nation, which, in the turbulent years after the crash of communist regimes and dictatorships, turned into an example for ethnic tolerance in the Balkans. Bad management in the field of social security, corruption in political life, lack of transparency in politics and the insensitivity to the reactions of civil society in Bulgaria are, however, a fact. We join the indignation with which Europe meets the result – the tragic fate of the children in Mogilino, filmed by Kate Blewett.
After the film was shown by BBC, some Bulgarian MEPs as well as the government, represented by the minister of social policy Emilia Maslarova, the chair of the State Agency for Child Protection Shirin Mestan and their subordinates, took immediate action and spent state resources to limit the reaction among Bulgarian and European societies – a reaction which could lead to reveal much power abuse and managerial incompetence. The minister of social policy publicly tried to assert that “it is high time people understood that when adults or children have such severe mental disabilities, they cannot learn to talk or to read. They simply do not have any competence for that. We have a psychologist [in Mogilino], but of course we do not have superb conditions, but anyway, this is all these children can achieve” (interview with InfoRadio, Sept. 19, 2007). Another statement of Minister Maslarova: “I am convinced that wherever you go, you will find the same situation, because I know identical cases in European countries.” These are outrageous words which frighten with cynicism.
It is our desire that, when an eight-year-old in Bulgaria writes to its government that she is worried about abandoned children, that she does not want children to grow without care and affection, our prime minister will act as adequately as all European politicians who visited Mogilino did. It is the truth that neither our prime minister, nor our president has yet visited the home.
In the last few years the Bulgarian government and parliament were repeatedly informed about the terrible conditions in institutions for children by different international and local organization, foreign governments and many non-governmental organizations. There has been no result and the de-institutionalization of children continued to stall so that the jobs that these homes for children provide can be preserved. In only eight months last year the state has put 1928 children into these institutions while only 1533 children have found homes.
We do not wish to stand in judgment of our country, nor do we want political exile in other European states on the basis of the danger our government puts on our children’s lives. We only want the Bulgarian government to keep its responsibilities to us, the citizens of Bulgaria and to you, the citizens of United Europe.
That is why we plead that you show the film and expect any help which would accelerate the development of a full, informed, competent and emancipated civil society in Bulgaria. A society based on humanity and democracy. A society which demonstrates the attitude and ability of the Bulgarian citizen to do good; which knows and expertly uses its legal instruments to change; which is capable to demand effective dialogue with those in power; which is capable of carrying responsibility which can make the existence of homes like the one in Mogilino impossible.
Sincerely,
Citizens and organizations in support of this petition:
A Family for Every Child Association
Bulgarian Charities Aid Foundation
Society for All Association
Bulgarian Mothers Movement
Bulgarian Writers Association
Parents of children with disabilities from the bg-mamma.com internet forums
Civil Initiative of Adoptees and Adoptive Parents
Liternet.bg – online magazine