BULGARIA: THE INS AND OUTS OF THE ASYLUM PROCESS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SOFIA 000478

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TAGS: PHUM KCRM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB BU
SUBJECT: BULGARIA: THE INS AND OUTS OF THE ASYLUM PROCESS


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: While the Bulgarian government has directed
increasing attention to human trafficking and other human rights
issues, the plight of asylum seekers remains a serious concern.
Asylum and refugee lawyers say Bulgarian authorities are
prioritizing the administrative convenience of state officials over
the rights and lives of asylum seekers. Rights activists say the
Bulgarians often postpone "official" recognition of asylum seeker
status and wrongly use domestic legislation to treat asylum
candidates as illegal immigrants facing potential deportation. In
many cases, asylum seekers are forced to live in inadequate
temporary accommodation centers for six months or longer. END
SUMMARY.

2. (SBU) From January to June 2009, 336 people from 40 countries
applied for refugee status in Bulgaria. The largest group included
135 from Iraq, 33 from Afghanistan, 16 from Armenia, 16 from Iran,
11 from Somalia, and 10 from Syria. Fifteen were granted refugee
status (less than five percent of applicants),135 were rejected,
and 86 were granted humanitarian status. Representatives of local
NGOs say that the low acceptance rate in Bulgaria is not linked to
ethnic or religious discrimination, but is a result of
administrative complications and lack of oversight.
LOSS OF LIBERTY IN "SAFE" COUNTRIES

3. (SBU) EU law states that refugees must apply for asylum in the
first safe country they enter. Since many asylum seekers are from
the Middle East or Africa, they enter Europe via Turkey, making
Greece and Bulgaria the most common points of entry to the EU.
When asylum seekers enter Bulgaria illegally the border police issue
a deportation order and move them to a "Special Center for the
Temporary Accommodation of Foreigners." The law stipulates that
asylum seekers should be interviewed within three days, but often it
takes months before such an interview is scheduled with the State
Agency for Refugees. In the meantime, the state pursues active
measures to enforce deportation orders, which can result in the
returning of the asylum seeker to the country of persecution before
a final decision on asylum has been reached. According to the
Bulgarian Helsinki Committee (BHS),the Bulgarian practice of
routinely contacting asylum seekers' countries of origin endangers
lives and should be stopped.
BUSMANTSI: BULGARIA'S MAIN REFUGEE DETENTION CENTER

4. (SBU) The BHC's Iliana Savova says that Busmantsi, the most
well-known detention center in Bulgaria, violates Article Five of
the European Convention of Human Rights regarding the right to
liberty and security. In a recent press interview she stated that
the GOB detains refugees for an excessive period of time without
making any effort to enforce a reasonable time frame for legal
proceedings. The State Agency for Refugees does not publish
statistics on how many detainees have been kept in the detention
center for longer than six months. However, in 2008 a list created
by the detainees themselves was released to Amnesty International
which revealed that 46 detainees had been kept in the center in
excess of six months, and one detainee had been held for four
years.

5. (SBU) According to rights activists, the treatment of detainees
and the living conditions in Busmantsi are unsatisfactory. In
Busmantsi, anywhere from 15-20 detainees sleep in each room. The
guards lock the rooms at night, requiring inmates to bang on the
door to get the attention of a guard in order to use the bathroom.
Valeria Ilareva of Sofia University's Legal Clinic for Refugees and
Asylum Seekers in Bulgaria told PolOff that detainees who act out in
the center are put in isolated detention and her clients have
informed her that the guards give detainees sedatives to keep them
under control. These drugs are not prescribed by any doctor, and
according to Ilareva some detainees claim sedatives are put in their
food if they refuse to ingest the drugs voluntarily.
MISINFORMATION AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES

6. (SBU) Detainees are often unaware of their right to legal
representation due to administrative hurdles and a lack of
translation services. Ilareva cited a case in which her client, an
interpreter escaping persecution in Iraq, was handed a decision in
Bulgarian and verbally told that he had been approved. However, the
Bulgarian text clearly stated that his application had been
rejected. As a result of this misinformation, he did not contact a
lawyer and missed the three-day window to appeal the decision.

7. (SBU) The visitation policy at immigration detention centers is
stricter than in Bulgarian prisons. Visiting hours at Busmantsi are
limited to two hours, mid-afternoon, two times per week. For
visits, reservations must be scheduled in cooperation with the
detainee, administration, and the visitor. Visiting slots fill
quickly, and as a result urgent visitation is rarely a possibility.
This means lawyers must initiate a meeting with a client and not
the other way around, effectively cutting off access to those
unaware of, or unable to otherwise contact, external counsel.
A TOUGH ROAD AHEAD

8. (SBU) Legal aid organizations are frustrated with what they say
is the government's lack of commitment to aiding detained refugees.
Ilareva told PolOff that the more her clinic works to raise public
awareness of these issues, the more its privileges are taken away.
In the past, law students at her clinic had open access to the
records of detainees, but once they began to raise the profile of
these issues, the center denied access. Ilareva also mentioned that
when media representatives visit Busmantsi, they are only allowed to
speak with the detainees who give glowing reports of the conditions

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of the center and do not reflect the true circumstances.

9. (SBU) COMMENT: Due to a lack of transparency and a weak
tradition of investigative reporting, the Bulgarian public-and the
rest of the world-remain largely unaware of the plight of asylum
seekers. It is unlikely that the situation will improve without
external prodding. END COMMENT.

ORDWAY