Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

US State Department report: Bulgaria's fight against corruption "insufficient"

Photo: Facebook/ U.S. Department of State

In its annual 2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, released Monday, the US State Department  says that the Bulgarian government's actions to tackle corruption and disregard for human rights are "insufficient". 
"Authorities took steps to identify, investigate, prosecute, and punish officials who committed human rights abuses and corruption, but government actions were insufficient, and impunity was a problem," the report says.
Significant human rights issues included cruel or degrading treatment by authorities, including of detainees, migrants, and displaced and institutionalized children; arbitrary arrest; serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; serious government corruption; crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting members of the Roma community; and crimes involving violence or threats of violence targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex persons.
Former Prime Minister Boyko Borissov's detention was given as an example of illegal arrest, BNR correspondent Mladen Petkov reports.
A high level of political and economic influence over the media combined with high levels of concentration of ownership is noted. In publishing the reports for all countries, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pointed out "the individual reports cover 198 countries and territories, providing factual, objective information based on credible reports of the events that occurred throughout 2022."



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

19 people detained in Sofia for drug possession

Nineteen people have been detained last night for drug possession during a special police operation on the territory of Sofia, the Interior Ministry has announced. Cannabis, ecstasy and more than 400 canisters of laughing gas, as well as..

published on 11/2/24 2:46 PM

Patriarch Daniil conducts Archangel All Souls' Day memorial service

An Archangel All Souls' Day memorial service was conducted by Patriarch Daniil at the military ossuary museum at the central Sofia cemetery. In his message he stated that today we honour the memory of all of our soldiers: “They are an example..

published on 11/2/24 1:31 PM

Young people out of a job are mostly with a secondary school education

Almost half of the unemployed under the age of 29 in this country have secondary school education, indicate the latest data of the National Employment Agency. There are 17.350 people from this age bracket registered at the job centres –7,570 of..

published on 11/2/24 11:51 AM