The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is an independent non-governmental organization for

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

founded on July 14, 1992 in

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Its main objectives are protection and promotion of human rights in Bulgaria. With more than 30 associates, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is the largest human rights

watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...

in the country.

History

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee was founded on July 14, 1992 with a headquarters in

. The organization was a member of the Vienna Based International Helsinki Federation until its insolvency in 2007. Nowadays it is an independent organization. The Committee is registered with the Bulgarian Central registry of non-profit organization in public benefit.

Objectives

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee objectives are protection and promotion with focus on minorities and the vulnerable groups of the society. The organization actively lobbies for legislative reforms in the field of human rights, it is actively involved in public debates on human rights issues and carries out advocacy for the protection of human rights. The Committee is also involved in human rights education, organizes conferences, workshops, public actions and other forms of public activities with focus human rights.

Structure

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee is managed by two bodies: General Meeting and Management Committee. The General Meeting is the supreme body of the organization and includes all members of the Committee (25 members as of early 2013). Management Committee is appointed by the General meeting and it has executive functions.

Programs

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee works through five programmes: Programming and administration programme, Legal Defence Programme, Monitoring and research programme, Campaigns and communications programme and Legal protection of refugees and migrants programme. The organization publishes a monthly magazine.

Funding

The Committee is a nonprofit organization funded and it is entirely funded by donations. In the recent years the largest donors have been public and private organizations such as Leon Levy Foundation, Open Society Foundations, Oak Foundation,

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

, EU

Fundamental Rights Agency The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, usually known in English as the Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), is a Vienna-based agency of the European Union inaugurated on 1 March 2007. It was established by Council Regulation (EC) No 168/2 ...

, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

United States Agency for International Development The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid and development assistance. With a budget of over $27 b ...

References

External links

The Bulgarian Helsinki Committee
{{Authority control Human rights organizations based in Bulgaria