“Themis Sees the Child” – 2

Project: “Themis Sees the Child” – 2

Amount: 131,700 BGN for 12 months (July 2025 – June 2026)

Organization: Foundation for the Development of Justice in partnership with 11 institutions and organizations – the National Institute of Justice, the Supreme Court of Cassation, the State Agency for Child Protection, the National Bureau of Legal Aid, the National Commission for Combating Human Trafficking, the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria, the National Network for Children, the Center for the Study of Democracy, the P.U.L.S. Foundation, the Bulgarian Lawyers for Human Rights Foundation, the Krastyu Tsonchev Lawyers Training Center

The project is a continuation of the one implemented in 2024. project of the Association of Prosecutors in Bulgaria “Themis Sees the Child”. The main goal continues to be to assist in the development of a knowledge-based and compliant practice in ensuring the rights of the child in criminal proceedings in line with the highest national and supranational requirements. Its objectives build on the first project and attract broad partnerships on the topic. The new activities include:

• a new module to the training programs created under the project “Themis Sees the Child”, which concerns the interests of children in proceedings under the Law on Protection from Domestic Violence and conducting a series of specialized training courses for a total of 7 groups of 20-25 participants, including judges, prosecutors, lawyers, investigating police officers and representatives of non-legal supporting professions
• creation of a pilot internship program, in which law students from the extracurricular specialized training formats of the Faculty of Law of the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” (circles) and doctoral students in law are trained in the standards of juvenile justice, working with normative standards and selecting and annotating case law.
• upgrading an electronic self-study tool on juvenile justice (based on the website of the Foundation for the Development of Justice) with new modules
• Systematized on a proposal for amendments and supplements to the Coordination Mechanism for work with children victims of violence, at risk of violence or in crisis intervention