Bulgaria is facing over 400 court decisions due to its refusal to provide social benefits to children of Ukrainian citizens granted temporary protection in the country. This information was released by the Program for the Legal Protection of Refugees and Migrants under the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHC) and comes amidst statements from the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy, which claims to support Ukrainian refugees.

Earlier this week, acting Minister of Labor and Social Policy Ivaylo Ivanov met with Ukrainian Ambassador Olesya Ilashchuk. Minister Ivanov assured that the ministry would continue to assist Ukrainian refugees and provide a safe environment for families during this challenging period. He emphasized that Ukrainian citizens who have been granted asylum, refugee status, humanitarian status, or temporary protection can access social services in Bulgaria.

Despite these assurances, the BHC highlights an ongoing issue with the Social Assistance Agency (SAA) that has been illegally denying family benefits for children of refugees with temporary protection and humanitarian status. Additionally, the SAA has refused social assistance for textbooks and other educational aids for Ukrainian children enrolled in Bulgarian schools.

The BHC has noted that there are currently more than 400 legal cases against these refusals, with court decisions consistently ruling that such denials violate multiple legal frameworks. These include the Asylum and Refugee Act, the Social Assistance Act, the Family Allowances Act for Children, the Bulgarian Constitution, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and European Directives 2001/55/EC and 2011/95/EU.

This situation indicates a significant contradiction between the SAA's practices and both national and international norms, reflecting what the BHC describes as institutional discrimination against the families of Ukrainian refugees. The committee has called on Minister Ivanov to take immediate action to rectify these issues, arguing that the current practices are inconsistent with his public commitments to support Ukrainian families.