International Human Rights Instruments

The monitoring of the implementation of the international acts in the area of human rights is carried out by the Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria on the basis of the UN Paris Principles and the Ombudsman Act. Pursuant to Article 19, para 1, item 12 of the Ombudsman Act, the Ombudsman has expressed powers to monitor and encourage the effective application of the human rights conventions to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party. On the basis of the ongoing monitoring of the way in which the State applies the international legal acts of human rights protection, the Ombudsman develops opinions and gives recommendations.

Along with this, in exercise of its powers to encourage and protect human rights, the Ombudsman creates a separate section in the Annual Report assessing the degree to which national legislation is aligned to the content of each convention and the practices of its application are aligned by the national institutions.

As regards the ECHR, the main criterion for the opinion of the Ombudsman is the execution of final ECtHR judgements against Bulgaria and the alignment of the national legislation to its case-law.