Bulgarian Cabinet approves gender equality bill
Bulglaria’s Cabinet approved a new gender equality bill that spelled out the institutional mechanisms for implementing the government’s gender equality strategy, the cabinet’s media service said in a statement on November 18.
The bill is meant to honour a number of international commitments made by Bulgaria, including commitments that stem from Bulgaria’s membership in the EU, and will implement UN recommendations from the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, according to the Cabinet memorandum listing the reasoning for the new bill.
The government shall be responsible for all gender equality policies, advised by a national council that will have advisory and co-ordinating functions, with similar councils also to be set up at local administration level. Policy implementation is assigned to the Labour and Social Policy Ministry through targeted projects, as required.
Although Bulgaria has a number of legal provisions in place that are aimed at preventing discrimination, it lacks a legal institutional framework for implementation of such policies, a void that the bill is meant to fill, the Cabinet memorandum said.
(Bulgaria’s Council of Ministers building. Photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
