23-01-2024 16:33
There is no place for violence of any kind in Bulgarian society and the state is giving another clear signal of this. This message was delivered today by Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel, Minister of Justice Atanas Slavov and Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov at the presentation of the mobile application to help victims of domestic violence.
The ‘Help Me’ app enables people to get quick and easy information about the institutions close to them that they can turn to for help and the steps they need to take to protect their rights. It has been developed by Information Services AD under a project implemented by the National Legal Aid Bureau (NLAB), funded by the Norwegian Financial Mechanism 2014-2021.
‘We are sending a strong message that there is no place in Bulgarian society for violence in any form — physical, mental or online. That is why it is very important for us as a government to look for solutions and to implement them quickly in time, all together to give courage to the victims to speak out, to seek help and together to look for ways to eliminate violence from Bulgarian society. The application also gives a clear signal of coordination between state authorities and that the protection and support of victims will be our common responsibility,’ Deputy Prime Minister Mariya Gabriel said. She heads the National Council for Prevention and Protection from Domestic Violence at the Council of Ministers, established by the recent amendments to the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence.
‘I am glad that as Minister of Justice I can talk about the judicial reform and what has been done to help people's lives, especially vulnerable groups such as victims of domestic violence,’ Minister Atanas Slavov emphasized. ‘Help Me’ will be the interface of the National Coordination Mechanism — a document that regulates the main procedures of interaction between the executive power, local self-government and legal entities engaged in prevention and protection from domestic violence, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Slavov said. The mechanism will be completed by the end of the year and will become effective at the beginning of 2024, as foreseen in the law.
‘For more than 16 years, the Ministry of Interior has been engaged and has a leading role in the prevention of domestic violence and improving inter-institutional interaction and cooperation between various state institutions and representatives of the non-governmental sector. During all these years, the Ministry of Interior has taken active steps to encourage survivors of domestic violence to report to the competent authorities,’ Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov said.
Natalia Ilieva, the President of the NLAB, explained that the idea of the mobile application is to allow people in need to find all the contact details — addresses, phone numbers, emails — of the institutions in their vicinity, engaged in the protection and support of victims, from anywhere in Bulgaria. You can send an email with one click or dial the numbers from the app. There is no obstacle that this can also be used by any relative, friend or even teacher of the victims. The app is available on the App Store and Google Play.
Natalia Ilieva also informed that since March there have already been 66 applications for legal assistance to victims of domestic violence, 3 of them are men and 63 — women. This happened after the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior, the National Bar Association and the Bar Councils.
The event was attended by representatives of the executive, UNICEF, lawyers, human rights defenders.