Unions oppose proposed restrictions on protest rights

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In February 2004, the Bulgarian government proposed amendments to the legislation governing meetings, demonstrations and protest rallies, aimed at placing a number of restrictions on some aspects of such protests. Trade unions and some NGOs are strongly opposed to the proposals.

In February 2004, the government proposed to the National Assembly a number of amendments to the Law on Meetings, Demonstrations and Protest Rallies, which sets the rules and safeguards for such protests. The law was adopted in 1990 and has been amended slightly on two occasions since.

The government proposes changes to the legislation in order to restrict people's rights to hold meetings, demonstrations and protest rallies, arguing that they are 'hampering normal road traffic, violating the public peace, infringing peoples rights … causing higher risks for the security, life and health of the people' and a 'higher risk of terrorist attacks'

The proposed amendments include:

• limiting the 'means of expression' that citizens may use in meetings and demonstrations. According to the current law, at such events people may express their opinions, conceptions and positions on political, economical, social, cultural etc questions through speeches, posters, 'miniature models' and other 'appropriate' means. The word 'appropriate' gives freedom for different types of expression or illustration of ideas and messages. The draft law proposes to replace 'appropriate' with 'similar', thus restricting people's ability to choose the types of expression used at a protest;

• prohibiting the use of cars, tractors, trailers and other motor vehicles during meetings, demonstrations and protest rallies;

• banning meetings when a 'higher risk of terrorist actions is present'; and

• prohibiting meetings, demonstrations and rallies when the participants 'have the intention' to block roads, crossroads, railways etc.

The proposed amendments have brought negative reactions from trade unions and a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including the so-called 'third sector' bodies - organisations representing groups such as motorists, people with disabilities, young people, women and pensioners. The proposed amendments were discussed at the National Assembly's permanent commission on civil society issues, and representatives of the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria (CITUB) and Confederation of Labour Podkrepa (CL Podkrepa) (BG0307204F) and various NGOs expressed their indignation with both the way the draft was drawn up by the government, and the proposed amendments.

On CITUB's initiative, 15 organisations - including CL Podkrepa, the other main trade union confederation - signed a position paper insisting on the government withdrawing its proposals. The document highlights the the necessity of wide public discussion of the draft amendments, their scope and rationale. The position paper was presented to the President, the chair of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister and parliamentary groups. The signatory organisations describe the draft law as 'rough and ready', drawn up without wide public discussions, and as limiting rights provided by the Constitution. They are dissatisfied that the draft law was not discussed at the National Council for Tripartite Partnership (NCTP) or at the Economic and Social Council (ESC), where the 'third sector' is presented. According to the opponents, the proposed amendments groundlessly restrict the freedom of assembly rights laid down in Article 43 of the Bulgarian Constitution, Article 21 of the United Nations' International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Article 11 of the Council of Europe's European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

NGOs do not accept that meetings should be prohibited if a 'higher risk of terrorist actions is present', as this term is not legally defied in Bulgarian legislation. Furthermore, they object to the hypothetical intentions of participants in meetings being taken into account. According to the NGOs, there is an obvious risk of a subjective approach when implementing these prohibitions. They can also find no grounds for the amendments in the past practice of implementing the present law.

It seems that the draft law may be withdrawn, given that the National Assembly's permanent commission on civil society issues reacted negatively.