[Brussels, 28 February 2014] As a result of the Bulgarian Women’s Lobby campaign on the promotion of the Istanbul convention last autumn, the Alliance for Protection against Domestic Violence, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the Bulgarian Council on Refugees and Migrant and the Bulgarian Women’s Lobby, co-organised a conference in Sofia on “Networking for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in the Context of International Protection”, on the 27th of February.
Aiming at developing a partnership between women’s and migrant/refugees’ NGOs, governmental institutions and services, the conference was well attended, including by representatives of justice ministry, police and border police, ministry of interior and anti-trafficking unit.
At the opening of the conference, the UNHCR Representative in Bulgaria, Mr Weil, stressed the importance of protecting women from gender-based violence everywhere, “one of the three priority areas for UNHCR”.
The first panel, moderated by Iliana Stoycheva-Balabanova (EWL board member), presented the international policy, legislation and practices for the prevention of violence against women.
Colette De Troy (director of the EWL observatory on VAW) explained how the Istanbul Convention brings major progress for prevention and protection of all women, including migrant and asylum seekers.
Genoveva Tisheva (Chair of the Alliance for Protection against Domestic Violenc) reminded the national and international commitments of Bulgaria in this area, and highlighted the results of the cases brought to the European Court of Justice and the CEDAW Committee.
Examples of good practices but also problems encountered by NGOs providing services to migrant/refugees women were given by members of the Bulgarian Red Cross for Protection of Refugee Women against Gender Based Violence (Mariana Stoyanova).
The conference ended by discussing the cooperation and partnership between state institutions, civil society organizations and refugee communities for prevention and protection against gender-based violence.
This was an excellent opportunity to bring together actors in different fields to examine how integrated policies and strategies can be developed to protect all women, which could be developed in other countries.
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Accessibility Statement
womenlobby.org
12 May 2025
Compliance status
We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience,
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To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level.
These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible
to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.
This website utilizes various technologies that are meant to make it as accessible as possible at all times. We utilize an accessibility interface that allows persons with specific
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Additionally, the website utilizes an AI-based application that runs in the background and optimizes its accessibility level constantly. This application remediates the website’s HTML,
adapts Its functionality and behavior for screen-readers used by the blind users, and for keyboard functions used by individuals with motor impairments.
If you’ve found a malfunction or have ideas for improvement, we’ll be happy to hear from you. You can reach out to the website’s operators by using the following email
Screen-reader and keyboard navigation
Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with
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alongside console screenshots of code examples:
Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website.
In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels;
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Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside it.
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Disability profiles supported in our website
Epilepsy Safe Mode: this profile enables people with epilepsy to use the website safely by eliminating the risk of seizures that result from flashing or blinking animations and risky color combinations.
Visually Impaired Mode: this mode adjusts the website for the convenience of users with visual impairments such as Degrading Eyesight, Tunnel Vision, Cataract, Glaucoma, and others.
Cognitive Disability Mode: this mode provides different assistive options to help users with cognitive impairments such as Dyslexia, Autism, CVA, and others, to focus on the essential elements of the website more easily.
ADHD Friendly Mode: this mode helps users with ADHD and Neurodevelopmental disorders to read, browse, and focus on the main website elements more easily while significantly reducing distractions.
Blindness Mode: this mode configures the website to be compatible with screen-readers such as JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, and TalkBack. A screen-reader is software for blind users that is installed on a computer and smartphone, and websites must be compatible with it.
Keyboard Navigation Profile (Motor-Impaired): this profile enables motor-impaired persons to operate the website using the keyboard Tab, Shift+Tab, and the Enter keys. Users can also use shortcuts such as “M” (menus), “H” (headings), “F” (forms), “B” (buttons), and “G” (graphics) to jump to specific elements.
Additional UI, design, and readability adjustments
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Notes, comments, and feedback
Despite our very best efforts to allow anybody to adjust the website to their needs. There may still be pages or sections that are not fully accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or are lacking an adequate technological solution to make them accessible. Still, we are continually improving our accessibility, adding, updating and improving its options and features, and developing and adopting new technologies. All this is meant to reach the optimal level of accessibility, following technological advancements. For any assistance, please reach out to
