ACTION TAKEN ON TV HORROR BULGARIAN ORPHANAGES

2.00.00pm GMT Tue 4th Mar 2008

The orphanage shown in the recent BBC documentary 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children' is to close, along with six other homes following a Bulgarian government decree.

The documentary, first shown in September 2007, followed the lives of 75 residents and caused a public outcry with its disturbing images of malnourished disabled children in the run-down Mogilino home.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne, Vice President of the European Parliament's All Party Disability Intergroup and Member of the Subcommittee on Human Rights has long campaigned for de-institutionalisation of physically and mentally disabled people where possible. After meeting today with Kate Blewett, director of the documentary, to discuss the situation, Liz welcomed the closures, saying:

"I am thrilled that the Bulgarian government has realised that these homes had to close; though I am saddened it took a TV programme to prompt action. The real work must now begin on giving the children proper care in a safe environment.

"I was sickened by the appalling conditions shown, so I was not surprised to receive a large amount of letters from worried and angry constituents. I have since been working with my Bulgarian colleagues and worked with the European Commission to ensure that the Bulgarian authorities must now provide plans for progress on standards in care homes.

"While this is positive news, the European Commission must do more by offering aid such as training resources for care workers, but it must also be prepared to condemn governments who do not act to improve standards. What we saw in the documentary is not acceptable in a modern European Union, or anywhere else."

ENDS

Notes to editors:

In January Liz Lynne asked the European Council of Ministers to put pressure on EU Member States to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities:

Before accession, we called on all Member States who wanted to come into the European Union to abide by European Union rules. I know Bulgaria has signed up to the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, but it has not ratified it. Can you put pressure on those countries that have not ratified that Convention to do just that?

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The BBC documentary 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children' followed the lives of 75 children in a care home in Mogilino, Bulgaria. According to Bulgarian MEPs, many of the children shown have since been moved and are being cared for by a team of volunteers.

In the programme, one child had her thumb cut off, 'because she kept sucking it.' Many of the children shown were unable to speak, not necessarily because they were incapable, but because no-one has taught them to do so. All of them were malnourished, and many had broken bones. For further information on the documentary: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/bulgarias-children.shtml

Bulgaria has more institutionalised mentally and physically disabled children than anywhere else in Europe, and whilst efforts have been made to move away from institutionalisation, the program showed how far there is still to go. Liz Lynne has for years campaigned for an end to the institutionalisation of physically and mentally disabled people where possible.