BULGARIA
Bulgaria’s first and current WPS NAP covers the period 2020-2025.
Objectives of Bulgaria’s 2020-2025 NAP:
The NAP is based around four pillars: Prevention, Participation, Protection, and Prioritisation. Within each pillar are a number of goals/objectives (listed below) which, in turn, are supported by specific actions to be undertaken.
1 Prevention
- Prevention and protection against domestic violence
- Prevention and protection against violence and abuse of children
- Raising awareness of the gender equality principles
- Promotion of gender equality
2 Participation
- Participation of women in peace and security processes
- Ensuring equal opportunities for women and men in decision-making processes
- Integration of gender equality in educational programmes
3 Protection
- Protection of the rights of women and girls during an armed conflict and in the post-conflict reconstruction process and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girl
- Counteraction to the trafficking in human beings
- Provision of services in the field of migration, asylum and integration
4 Prioritisation
- Prioritization of the Women, Peace and Security agenda
- Updating of education systems and training programmes
- Strengthening of the Women, Peace and Security agenda through participation in international actions/initiatives for the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda
Commentary:
Bulgaria’s NAP links domestic policy with foreign policy, and refers to its commitment to EU policy frameworks relating to gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as its role within NATO and its desire to contribute to collective defence, crisis management, and security issues through cooperation with other member nations.
The implementation matrix sets out which agency is responsible for each action, together with a timeframe and progress indicators. It also has a column for budget allocation, but entry alongside of each action is the same, ie “Within the budget allocations for the relevant institutions,” so effectively there is no specified budget for implementation of the NAP.
Civil society involvement in development of the NAP:
Various meetings were held with NGOs, civil society organisations and academia, and several of the listed activities refer to NGO involvement. However, there is no discussion as to their specific role or how they will be involved in monitoring the work of ministries and other government agencies.
UN peacekeeping statistics:
At September 2023, Bulgaria was not contributing any personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.
Women in peacekeeping:
As Bulgaria has not been a significant contributor to UN peacekeeping missions, its NAP has to be seen more as a statement of intent to promote the WPS agenda through enhanced training in gender equality and women’s role in peace making processes, and recruitment and promotion to leadership positions of more women in the armed forces and diplomatic missions.
References and sources:
Bulgaria WPS NAP: Bulgaria-2020-2025.pdf (wpsnaps.org)
United Nations Peacekeeping (Sept 2023) https://peacekeeping.un.org/en/troop-and-police-contributors
Contribution of Uniformed Personnel to UN by Country, Mission, and Personnel Type (Sept 2023): 05-Missions Detailed By Country
