News

10 April 2025

Members of the Ombudsman Institution’s Monitoring Council approved the 2024 Annual Report, which shows all actions taken to perform its functions of protection, monitoring and promoting the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Bulgaria.

It is to be recalled that the Monitoring Council monitors the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities established pursuant to Arts. 11-16 of the Persons with Disabilities Act.

The 2024 report includes the opinions sent to the authorities in charge of the problems of medical assessment, the amount of the disability pensions while the expert decisions of Territorial Experts Medical Boards (TEMBs) or of the National Expert Medical Board (NEMB) are appealed against, the supply of medical devices and aids, the accessibility of the environment and the difficulties confronting children with special educational needs and their families.

Basic recommendations were made, one of the most important being to speed up the ratification procedure of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities to provide an additional mechanism to protect the rights of persons with disabilities in Bulgaria.

The Monitoring Council members discussed its 2025 Annual Program and the draft recommendations regarding the difficulties of children with special educational needs.

More details about the operation of the Council in 2024 can be read in the Report.