The 16 days campaign 2005 in Bulgaria officially started for a 15 time with a press conference organized by Nadja Center and the Bulgarian Media Coalition with the financial support of the British Embassy in Bulgaria on 25 November 2005. Given that this is the first campaign in Bulgaria following the adoption of an important Law regulating domestic violence, the focus of the campaign this year is the social aspect of domestic violence and its consequences for children as well as the implementation of the newly adopted piece of legislation.

During the 16 Days of Activism posters and brochures designed for the campaign are going to be disseminated throughout the country.

In this regard, the organizers announced that they received assistance from the Municipality of Sofia to disseminate posters and brochures in the public transport and similar decision from the Bulgarian Football Company is expected so that anti-violence materials are distributed and attached to the tickets during football meetings. Furthermore, answering a question of a NGO representative the Deputy Major of Sofia who participated in the press conference promised that the Municipality will finally support the non-governmental initiatives and will provide a building for shelter for victims of violence to be opened in the capital.

Representatives of the show business like duet Karisma, Doni, Rock-band “Te” and many others expressed their willingness to participate in the campaign in order to popularize the initiative. Also, a video dedicated to the problem of violence was produced by the above-mentioned group Karisma and will be broadcast in several radio and TV programs.

Some of the non-governmental organizations provided statistics on the number of cases of domestic violence in the country – the Regional Court in Sofia issued 40 decisions for immediate protection of victims of violence, the Regional court in Haskovo – took 12 such decisions, in Burgas – 23, in Plovdiv - 38.     

Open Door Center in Pleven announced that a special movie about its social enterprise and shelter for victims of violence will be broadcasted on the National TV on 29 November. For more details about the good practice refer to the What’s New Section of the Bulgarian Page on STOPVAW from 10/26  2005.

After the press conference a working group was organized where representatives of media, governmental and nongovernmental organizations discussed the strategy and activities of the Bulgarian campaign. During the meeting the STOPVAW website and the electronic newspaper were promoted and all participants were encouraged to submit short materials about their activities as a part of the campaign so that they are posted on the website.

The closing conference when all participants will share their conclusions and ideas for the 16 Days of Activism 2006 Campaign will take place on 10 December 2005 in Sofia. 

Materials (in Bulgarian):

Invitaion for NGOs to join the Campaign: pokana.pdf (120.62 Kb)

Brochure 1: brochure_1.pdf (1.22 Mb)

Brochure 2: brochure_2.pdf (2.23 Mb)

Posters: violence.pdf (222.76 Kb)

CWSP would like to thank Center Nadja and Bulgarian Media Coalition for kindly providing us with the materials for the Campaign 2005.