ABANDONED CHILDREN OF BULGARIA

Target:
Bulgarian Officials
Sponsored by: 
My goal is to raise awareness of the crisis in Bulgaria and to bring about social policy change so that physically and mentally challanged children and young adults can live with dignity in community based care. Your active support is vital and by signing this petition there will be hope for these innocent human beings.
Please pass this on to as many people possible.
Thanks
My goal is to raise awareness of the crisis in Bulgaria and to bring about social policy change so that physically and mentally challanged children and young adults can live with dignity in community based care. Your active support is vital and by signing this petition there will be hope for these innocent human beings.
Please pass this on to as many people possible.
Thanks

Honourable Maxime Bernier,

 Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade,

House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

 

Dear Minister:

I am writing to you to bring to your attention the desperate situation of children growing up in state-run residential facilities in Bulgaria and to urge you, as Canada%u2019s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to take up the cause of their protection.

On 24 February, TVO Ontario broadcast the BBC documentary entitled 'Bulgaria's Abandoned Children.' It is about a state-run residential care facility in Mogilino, Bulgaria, where 75 unwanted children are growing up.

Most of the children cannot talk because they are never spoken to. Some are abused by the staff but are unable to report it as they cannot speak. The children are devastatingly malnourished. They may enter the institution with only a mild disability or blindness, but often deteriorate to the point of being bedridden. Several die every year due to neglect. They are locked in dormitories at night with only one member of staff in the building. Most never, ever go outside. With nothing at all to do all day, they simply sit and rock backwards and forwards - a typical human response to lack of stimulation. In the mornings they are herded to the showers naked, often by a person of the opposite sex, and not even given towels to dry themselves. The younger children sit on potties for most of the day, just rocking.

I urge you to view the full documentary online at www.video.google.com   It is compelling viewing.

What is deeply shocking is that this is not the only home like this - in Bulgaria thousands of children grow up in such institutions. Most have families who have not relinquished their parental rights and would not place their child in an institution if they had a real choice. But parents of children born even with a mild disability are advised by %u2018professionals%u2019 to give them over to institutions. There are no community-based services to help the development of and the care for disabled children. The financial support available to such families in this poorest of EU countries is inadequate.

This is happening despite consecutive Bulgarian governments%u2019 undertaking to the EU to reform the child welfare system. In the past six years 30 million US dollars of loans and donations for child welfare reform were poured into the country by the World Bank, the European Union and the UK Department for International Development. Improvements are promised, but there is evidence that children still suffer unspeakably.  

I find it deeply shocking that  Bulgaria, a member-state of the European Union and significant trading partner of Canada, should warehouse and mistreat its weakest citizens with impunity.  Bulgaria must be held to account by the international community, including Canada. A groundswell of international protest and pressure is mounting as this documentary has been shown in the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and now in Canada.

I urge you to take up this cause. Specifically I ask that you address this matter with the European Union and with the Bulgarian government,  seeking assurances that the Bulgarian government will make good on its agreement in principle to de-institutionalize children, and will allocate sufficient resources to enable the transition of the children and young adults to appropriate supported accommodation in the communities they come from.

I look forward to hearing from you  what actions Canada will take to add to international pressure on Bulgaria.

 

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We signed the "ABANDONED CHILDREN OF BULGARIA" petition!
# 512:
7:21 am PST, Jan 6, Heather Peterson, Indiana
# 511:
1:18 pm PST, Jan 5, Sade Ronco, California
# 510:
7:44 am PST, Jan 5, Aniko Babos, Oregon
# 509:
3:37 pm PST, Jan 4, Emad Ali, Qatar
# 508:
9:37 am PST, Jan 4, Laurie Wudtke, South Dakota
# 507:
2:22 am PST, Jan 4, Diana Dellamarie, California
# 506:
3:47 pm PST, Jan 3, Kari Feliciano, New Jersey
# 505:
1:09 pm PST, Jan 3, Gail Costic, Pennsylvania
# 504:
12:59 pm PST, Jan 3, Linda Churchyard, Oregon
# 503:
11:25 am PST, Jan 3, Johanna Sandberg, Sweden
# 502:
8:32 am PST, Jan 3, Trakul Sethaphaibul, Thailand
yes for human dignity and mental reason.
# 501:
8:31 am PST, Jan 3, Sonya Delcheva, Bulgaria
# 500:
2:00 am PST, Jan 3, Cecy V. Aguirre López, Mexico
# 499:
8:03 pm PST, Jan 1, Jennifer Gardner, Florida
# 498:
7:21 am PST, Dec 30, Name not displayed, United Kingdom
Could any of the babies be brought to Britain , to be adopted?
# 497:
4:31 am PDT, Oct 7, Rajendar Menen, India
# 496:
8:23 am PDT, Oct 6, Beatrice Barbu, Romania
# 495:
3:48 am PDT, Oct 6, Anne Thompson, United Kingdom
# 494:
3:46 am PDT, Oct 4, Elena Gageanu, Romania
# 493:
6:04 am PDT, Oct 2, Jet Barrett, United Kingdom
# 492:
10:55 pm PDT, Oct 1, Rob Redmon, Ohio
# 491:
2:32 pm PDT, Oct 1, Ruth Bescript, Arizona
How heartless to forget about those who can't fend for themselves.
# 490:
8:12 am PDT, Oct 1, Henk Ahrue van Grootveld, Netherlands
# 489:
1:32 pm PDT, Sep 30, Sónia Neto, Portugal
# 488:
6:26 pm PDT, Sep 29, Roz Fitzgerald, Australia
Please help these children to live with dignity - give them the support they need to reach their potential.
# 487:
3:11 pm PDT, Sep 29, Mark Kiernan, Italy
# 486:
1:16 pm PDT, Sep 29, Jay Kilby, Washington
# 485:
12:33 pm PDT, Sep 29, Michelle Bustos, Illinois
# 484:
10:15 am PDT, Sep 29, Chum R, Canada
For more impact, add a personal comment here
# 483:
10:10 am PDT, Sep 29, Maria Teresa Daza Cara, Portugal
# 482:
9:24 am PDT, Sep 29, Tim Redfern, Tennessee
# 481:
6:25 am PDT, Sep 29, Livia Gomes, Portugal
# 480:
5:18 am PDT, Sep 29, Raja Gopal, India
Children have become targets for the vultures of human society in different garbs. Those who trade in human beings have to be hacked to death.
# 479:
4:49 am PDT, Sep 29, Shoshana Bernard, Colorado
# 478:
4:17 am PDT, Sep 29, Justenjoy Life, Portugal
# 477:
8:27 pm PDT, Sep 28, Patricia Nigro, Florida
# 476:
5:01 pm PDT, Sep 28, Name not displayed, Spain
# 475:
4:48 pm PDT, Sep 28, Linda Bescript, Arizona
Adults brought them into the world, so adults must help them. Otherwise, use birth control.
# 474:
3:56 pm PDT, Sep 28, Jackie Coombs, United Kingdom
# 473:
12:57 pm PDT, Sep 28, Nikki Laidler, United Kingdom
# 472:
11:12 am PDT, Sep 28, Brenda Tromans, Canada
this is so inhumane, and this director tries to act all innocent like, lady what your doing dicusts me
# 471:
9:23 am PDT, Sep 28, Marcy Morgan, California
# 470:
8:42 am PDT, Sep 28, Alexandria Burough, California
# 469:
8:39 am PDT, Sep 28, Pauline Fuit, Australia
# 468:
8:26 am PDT, Sep 28, Nicole Perrot, California
This is horrible. Isn't Bulgaria part of the EU? Why aren't they seeking help from the Union to help these chilren?
# 467:
6:55 am PDT, Sep 28, Dimi Spasic, Serbia And Montenegro
# 466:
5:38 am PDT, Sep 28, Claudia For the oceans, Netherlands
# 465:
5:37 am PDT, Sep 28, Denise Tankha, India
This was a wonderful part of the world until communism and other political ideologies took root. Ever since the Balkan catastrophy, scenes like the one shown on utube have become the norm. I noticed that all the carers and the Director had butch hair cuts, all were hefty, all seemed unaffected by the misery around them, taking for granted that that was the order of the day. We as humans need to bow our heads in shame. I had thought scenes like this would never again emerge after WW2. Its like viewing the insides of the concentration camps all over again.
# 464:
10:57 pm PDT, Sep 27, Leila Abu shanab, Jordan
# 463:
8:41 pm PDT, Sep 27, Lily Arnold, United Kingdom
# 462:
8:33 pm PDT, Sep 27, Marian Elliott, Wyoming
# 461:
8:32 pm PDT, Sep 27, Valerie Hildebrand, Canada
# 460:
8:23 pm PDT, Sep 27, Lars Hmmm, Illinois
# 459:
7:24 pm PDT, Sep 27, Wolfweeps Johnson, Alaska
Child labor and poverty are inevitably bound together and if you continue to use the labor of children as the treatment for the social disease of poverty, you will have both poverty and child labor to the end of time. -- Grace Abbott The first and continuing argument for the curtailment of working hours and the raising of the minimum age was that education was necessary in a democracy and working children could not attend school. -- Grace Abbott * "Everyone deserves the best start in life, which is what UNICEF is working to provide the world's most vulnerable children. Education is essential to a child's development. I hope that as an Ambassador I can encourage people to join UNICEF's mission to make education a reality for children throughout the world." -- Clay Aiken * "UNICEF is working for the survival of children worldwide. What can we do to get more Americans committed to the cause?" " -- Clay Aiken In the past, children were all too often viewed more as property than people. Many victories for children's rights have been won in the last 100 years, such as child labor laws, protecting children from having to work long hours in unsafe conditions; public education, allowing all children to have access to learning; and laws preventing child abuse. But tthere is still much to do in protecting children's rights around the world. -- Robert Alan * "There is no trust more sacred than the one the world holds with children. There is no duty more important than ensuring that their rights are respected, that their welfare is protected, that their lives are free from fear and want and that they can grow up in peace." -- Kofi Annan "Children do not constitute anyone's property: they are neither the property of their parents nor even of society. They belong only to their own future freedom." -- Mikhail Bakunin * I can’t think of any issue that is more important than working to see that no schoolchild in this world goes hungry. -- Drew Barrymore * Feeding a child at school is such a simple thing – but it works miracles. -- Drew Barrymore School feeding not only fills stomachs, but has a proven track record of boosting enrollment, attendance and academic performance. For just pennies a day per child, this program changes lives – and ultimately can impact the futures of poor countries around the world in a profound way. -- Drew Barrymore * "These children and their parents know that getting an education is not only their right, but a passport to a better future - for the children and for the country." -- Harry Belafonte "These children and their parents know that getting an education is not only their right, but a passport to a better future - for the children and for the country. Kenya's decision to abolish school fees is a shining example of just what can be achieved in the developing world by sheer political will." -- Harry Belafonte "Children who have lost parents to HIV/AIDS are not only just as deserving of an education as any other children, but they may need that education even more. Being part of a school environment will prepare them for the future, while helping to remove the stigma and discrimination unfortunately associated with AIDS." -- Harry Belafonte * "...in serving the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity." -- Carol Bellamy "Creating a world that is truly fit for children does not imply simply the absence of war. It means having the confidence that our children would not die of measles or malaria. It means having access to clean water and proper sanitation. It means having primary schools nearby that educate children, free of charge. It means changing the world with children, ensuring their right to participate, and that their views are heard and considered. It means building a world fit for children, where every child can grow to adulthood in health, peace and dignity." -- Carol Bellamy "The economic benefits of investing in children have been extensively documented. Investing fully in children today will ensure the well-being and productivity of future generations for decades to come. By contrast, the physical, emotional and intellectual impairment that poverty inflicts on children canmean a lifetime of suffering and want – and a legacy of poverty for the next generation… " -- Carol Bellamy “…Together let us build the global alliance to realize that goal, secure in the knowledge that in serving the best interests of children, we serve the best interests of all humanity. -- Carol Bellamy “When the lives and the rights of children are at stake, there must be no silent witnesses.” “What is needed now are increased efforts to promote youth participation and commitment; more services aimed at youth; more parental involvement; more education and information, using schools and other sites; more protection for girls, orphaned children and young women;and more partnerships with people with HIV and AIDS.“ -- Carol Bellamy “Despite the threat of global terror hanging over all of us, there is only one path: to pursue the Millennium Development Goals with fresh resolve –confronting violence, bigotry and hatred with the same determination that we attack the causes from which they spring – conflict, ignorance, poverty and disease. The world we seek, where every child can grow to adulthood in health, peace and dignity – in short, aworld fit for children – has remained a dream formore years than we can count. But we at UNICEF are convinced that working together with committed partners, and with an appropriate plan of action and a commitment to resources, we can make that dream a reality for each and every child on earth.” -- Carol Bellamy "A century that began with children having virtually no rights is ending with children having the most powerful legal instrument that not only recognizes but protects their human rights." -- Carol Bellamy "The Convention is not only a visionary document. We are reminded daily that it is an agreement that works – and its utility can be seen in the everyday use to which I have seen it increasingly being put by country after country, in policy, in practice and in law." -- Carol Bellamy The fact is that there is enough food in the world for everyone. But tragically, much of the world's food and land resources are tied up in producing beef and other livestock--food for the well off--while millions of children and adults suffer from malnutrition and starvation. -- Dr.Walden Bello We spoke out, committed civil disobedience, and went to jail because the peace hangs senselessly and precariously upon weapons costing billions to build and billions to improve — weapons which become more useless as we add to their destructive force. With this money we could have fed the world's people. Half the children on earth go to bed hungry — millions more have retarding and stunting protein deficiencies. Instead of building the peace by attacking injustices like starvation, disease, illiteracy, political and economic servitude, we spend a trillion dollars on war since 1946, until hatred and conflict have become the international preoccupation." -- Daniel Berrigan The child awakens to a universe. The mind of the child to a world of meaning. Imagination to a world of beauty. Emotions to a world of intimacy. It takes a universe to make a child both in outer form and inner spirit. It takes a universe to educate a child. A universe to fulfill a child. ~ Thomas Berry "Children need systems that are inclusive and driven by them, systems that will enable them to respond to their feelings and needs at any time." -- Jeroo Billimoria * Success will be when every child in the world has access to a service like Childline and knows that someone who cares is just a phone call away -- Jeroo Billimoria * How do we redefine education so that 30-50 percent of inner-city children do not drop out of school, thus ensuring that millions will end up in prison? -- Grace Lee Boggs * The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer We must look towards societies that set a high value on nonaggression and noncompetitive ness, and therefore handle conflicts by nonviolent means. We can see how child rearing patterns produce nurturing adult behaviors.” -- Elise Boulding We’re never going to have respectful and reverential relationships with the planet- and sensible policies about what we put in the air, the soil, the water – if very young children don’t begin learning about these things literally in their houses, backyards, streets and schools. We need to have human beings who are oriented that way from their earliest memories.” -- Elise Boulding " …And these children that you spit on as they try to change their worlds are immune to your consultations. They're quite aware of what they're going through…" -- David Bowie "Changes" * Our generation has inherited an incredibly beautiful world from our parents and they from their parents. It is in our hands whether our children and their children inherit the same world. We must not be the generation responsible for irreversibly damaging the environment. -- Richard Branson * 35 million people in the U.S. are hungry or don't know where their next meal is coming from, and 13 million of them are children. If another country were doing this to our children, we'd be at war. -- Jeff Bridges * Many people think that hunger is unavoidable in any society, even a society that is blessed with great abundance. That is not true. The European community does not have widespread hunger. America, which leads the world in so many ways, can end childhood hunger within its borders. -- Pierce Brosnan * "We want the world to focus on children whose lives have been devastated by AIDS. The millions of children who are missing their parents; their childhood, their future but most importantly, they are missing YOU. Everyone can make a real difference. Your voice is needed in a global movement that can change their world." -- Pierce Brosnan * “We are asking people to understand that slavery still exists today; in fact, according to a recent New York Times article, if you count the number of women and children in bonded labor, domestic slavery or sexual slavery today, there are more slaves in the world than at any other time in history.” -- Charlotte Bunch * "School feeding is a great tool to encourage education and provide food aid to children born into extremely impoverished situations. The kids in school being fed by WFP are empowered by their school meal to learn and better their lives!" -- Lauren Bush * If our American way of life fails the child, it fails us all. -- Pearl S. Buck * "Every minute of every day, a child under 15 is infected with HIV - the overwhelming majority of children under 15 who are HIV-positive get infected through their mothers at birth. Without treatment, half of these children die before they reach their second birthday." -- Gabriel Byrne "Perhaps we cannot prevent this world from being a world in which children are tortured. But we can reduce the number of tortured children." -- Albert Camus "If I had one wish for my children, it would be that each of them would reach for goals that have meaning for them as individuals." -- Lillian Carter The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn't been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him. -- Pablo Casals * You must work - we must all work to make the world worthy of its children. -- Pablo Casals * "Stigma hurts. Because of AIDS, children are bullied, isolated and shut out of school. They are missing out on education. They are missing out on medicines. Children are missing your love, care and protection. Join me. And become a stigma buster. UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS" -- Jackie Chan The most important thing that parents can teach their children is how to get along without them. -- Frank A. Clark * "Music can speak louder than words, and I will use my music to speak out on behalf of children everywhere." -- Judy Collins * We all have families who are longing for peace in the world and an end to the suffering caused by poverty, disease, and hunger. Untold numbers of our friends, our neighbors, our parents, and our children, are hoping that there is more understanding, more generosity, more genuine friendship, and more caring among people of all faiths and cultures. -- John Conyers * In a nutshell, this United Nations non-profit organization [World Food Programme] feeds millions of starving children at schools in third world countries as an incentive for them to attend school, which in turn might better their futures. They do so much more but I was so struck by this story. -- Sheryl Crow * "UNICEF is helping mothers realize their dreams for the future — a future in which the basic needs for a child’s survival: food, clean water and simple health care — are guaranteed." -- Jane Curtin * As a people, we value family, education and success. Hunger is an enemy to all three. Scientific studies have demonstrated that even brief periods of hunger can permanently inhibit a child's mental, emotional and physical growth. Kids who are hungry do poorly in school and are unlikely to grow into productive adults. For families, experiencing hunger means living in a world of isolation and shame. Caring citizens must put an end to this disgrace. -- Ted Danson Some of us believe in communism, Some of us believe in capitalism, Some of us believe in spiritualism, Some of us believe in materialism Some mothers believe in heavy dandy, Some fathers believe in understanding. Some of us believe in total freedom, Some of us believe in laying the rules on. But the children believe in friends, For the children of the world, Every boy and girl, All they'll know is what we teach 'em, Most of us fail when we try to reach 'em For the children believe in having friends -- Donovan We live in a complex world and the motivation to use violence to solve problems needs to be seriously questioned. It is essential that we help our children perceive peaceful alternatives. We need to use these troubled times as an opportunity to create a new vision for the future. -- Naomi Drew The only way children can learn the habit of forgiveness is by seeing us, their parents, forgive others and forgive ourselves. -- Naomi Drew
# 458:
6:42 pm PDT, Sep 27, Amélia Melo, Portugal
# 457:
6:27 pm PDT, Sep 27, Pauline Houzard, Guadeloupe
# 456:
6:23 pm PDT, Sep 27, Blue Ape With A Drum, United Kingdom
protect the poor children,save them from this horror.
# 455:
5:45 pm PDT, Sep 27, Michelle Ludwig, Florida
I think all children should have the help and support they need to live as normal as possible.
# 454:
3:44 pm PDT, Sep 27, Marieemma Tarnawiecki, Florida
# 453:
1:38 pm PDT, Sep 27, Stephanie Vitt, Georgia
# 452:
12:58 pm PDT, Sep 27, Alicya Lima, Netherlands
# 451:
12:49 pm PDT, Sep 27, Laird D b, United Kingdom
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