Foundation for Access to Rights, Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion and European Network on Statelessness Joint Submission to the Human Rights Council at the 36th Session of the Universal Periodic Review Bulgaria Introduction 1. The Foundation for Access to Rights FAR), Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion (ISI) and European Network on Statelessness (ENS) make this joint submission to the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), on the right to a nationality and human rights challenges pertaining to statelessness in Bulgaria. 2. This submission draws on information and analysis of practice from the work of FAR in providing direct legal assistance and other services to stateless people in Bulgaria, as well as ENS’s Statelessness Index, which covers Bulgaria.1 The submission provides an overview of the key gaps in Bulgarian law, policy and practice in relation to the protection of stateless persons and prevention and reduction of statelessness, focusing in on key remaining protection gaps facing stateless people in Bulgaria. 3. The Foundation for Access to Rights (FAR) is a Bulgarian non-governmental organisation founded in the public interest. Its mission is the achievement of the following objectives: establishment of effective mechanisms to guarantee access to rights in practice and effective protection against arbitrary deprivation of rights; increasing institutional and public awareness, sensitivity and commitment to the need to address systemic problems in access to basic human rights in Bulgaria; development of a favourable legislative environment in line with European and International standards for the protection of human rights and the establishment of best practices on access to rights. FAR is a member of the European Network on Statelessness. 4. The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion2 is an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting an integrated, human rights-based response to the injustice of statelessness and exclusion. Established in August 2014, it is the first and only global centre committed to promoting the human rights of stateless persons and ending statelessness. The Institute has made over 50 country specific UPR submissions on the human rights of stateless persons, and also compiled summaries of the key human rights challenges related to statelessness in all countries under review under the 23rd to the 35th UPR Sessions. 5. The European Network on Statelessness (ENS) 3 is a civil society alliance of NGOs, lawyers, academics, and other independent experts committed to addressing statelessness in Europe. Based in London, it currently has over 145 members in 41 1 https://index.statelessness.eu/country/bulgaria. 2 For more information about the Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, see: www.institutesi.org. 3For more information about the European Network on Statelessness, see: www.statelessness.eu. 1