European and Bulgarian human rights organizations appealed to Parliament to accelerate the passing of a comprehensive anti-discrimination law, which has been delayed for two months already. They expressed their concern with the fact that the law was stopped from debates at first reading in Parliament. A number of non-governmental organizations helped the government in drafting the law.

Nine human rights organizations signed an open letter to Parliament Speaker Ognyan Gerdzhikov, recommending urgent debates on the act by the lawmakers.

The Cabinet tabled the anti-discrimination act in Parliament in October last year and it was approved by all relevant committees. Under the parliamentary rules, the speaker had to table the act in Parliament for first reading in plenary hall two months ago. Instead of doing that, he sent the act to a consultative council - a newly established body with the current Bulgarian Parliament, which decided that the act was too specific, the human rights NGOs representatives said. The legal experts in the council advised that a more general law was necessary and the one that was drafted was too detailed.

According to the human rights organizations, a general law will not change the situation and the passing of such an act would be a mistake. Krassimir Kanev, director of the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, called on the government to support the anti-discrimination act more actively. The act introduces a very efficient mechanism since it envisages establishment of a special commission that will investigate discrimination cases and impose sanctions, he commented.

The adoption of the law is one of the requirements that Bulgaria needs to fulfill to join the European Union. Almost all EU members and applicants have achieved significant progress in that field. Among the EU candidate countries, Romania is a frontrunner, according to Dimitrina Petrova from the European Roma Rights Center. She explained that Romania has adopted a comprehensive anti-discrimination law that fulfills almost all EU requirements.

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