News

23 September 2025

"My principle position is that children under the age of 14 are at risk and should not come into contact with the law in any way. They need support and protection.  This is one of the things I will defend as a position during the working group at the Ministry of Justice." This was stated by Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva at the round table "Rights and Support for Children in Contact with the Law," organized by the Center for the Study of Democracy at the Center for Training Lawyers.

"Unfortunately, from the very first days when I took office as Ombudsman, I was notified of a very serious problem in a social-pedagogical institution, which gave me an additional opportunity to once again raise the issue of children who are in conflict with the law," emphasized Veleslava Delcheva.

She emphasized that this issue had not been addressed for more than 10 years, but expressed hope that Bulgaria would soon have a modern, functioning law on juvenile justice.

In her speech, Delcheva pointed out that the current system for working with children in conflict with the law suffered from serious deficiencies that required urgent government policy and coordinated efforts between institutions.

Among the problems, the Ombudsman pointed out the lack of internal legal means to protect children in proceedings for the imposition or revocation of educational measures under the Anti-Drug Act, which, in the form of institutional placement, constitute deprivation of liberty.

"These measures are examined by local commissions, not by the court, and this procedure lacks adequate procedural guarantees for the protection of children's rights. As NPM, I will defend the position that these procedures should be examined by a court and that children should always have the opportunity to be represented by lawyers and have a prosecutor involved. You know that currently, children are represented by social workers in court proceedings, which I am not convinced gives them sufficient guarantees that their rights will be respected," Delcheva was categorical.

Thirdly, she pointed out the low use of humane practices such as "blue rooms."

The Ombudsman insisted that consideration be given to the use of specialized judicial panels, as well as social services for children in conflict with the law.

"I hope that today's round table will produce workable proposals for improving the system for protecting children's rights," concluded Velislava Delcheva.