The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Article 1: All people are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should treat each other in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind based on race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, social or other status.
Bulgaria has a Protection against Discrimination Act from 2003, which regulates the protection against all forms of discrimination and sets mechanisms to prevent it. In Art. 4. the Act says “It is prohibited any direct or indirect discrimination based on gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, human genome, citizenship, origin, religion or belief, education,political affiliation, personal or social status, disability age, sexual orientation, marital status, property status or any other characteristics pointed out by law or in an international treaty to which the Republic of Bulgaria is a party.”
However, discriminatory practices and harassment against people identified as “different” are commonplace, and victims rarely find justice. In this video, students explore issues of equality and discriminatory practices by interviewing a young person and an educator, comparing their thoughts on the society we live in and its future prospects.
Authors:
Raen Boykov – 7th Secondary school “Kuzman Shapkarev” Blagoevgrad,
Kalin Tsvetin – English grammar school “Acad. Lyudmil Stoyanov”, Blagoevgrad,
Vanessa Popeva – Professional High school of economics “Ivan Iliev” Blagoevgrad,
Ilia Dimitrov- 5th Secondary school “Georgi Izmirliev” Blagoevgrad,
Aleksadra Zhivkova- Professional high school of economics “Ivan Iliev” Blagoevgrad
Participants: Lyuba Bozhikova, teacher from 7th Secondary school “Kuzman Shapkarev” and Stanislav Bachev, student from 7th Secondary school “Kuzman Shapkarev”, Blagoevgrad
Reflection Questions:
1/ Discuss different cases of discrimination based on the characteristics listed in Article 4 of the Protection from Discrimination Act? Which of these cases are mentioned in the interview from the film?
2/ Why is it important to fight discrimination against certain groups in society and to react to its various forms?