A/HRC/43/40/Add.1 currently pending owing to ongoing public debates spearheaded by certain populist movements and representatives of the Orthodox Church, which stress that, because of their traditional family values, they are opposed to considering children as rights holders, including those belonging to ethnic minorities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex children. The Special Rapporteur is of the view that these attitudes might further exacerbate the existing segregation, neglect and isolation of the Roma community and halt the State-supported desegregation efforts aimed at building trust, confidence and understanding throughout all communities. 47. Additionally, the annually adopted National Programme for Child Protection regulates the obligations of all State institutions in the area of child protection. A national strategy entitled “Vision for the deinstitutionalization of children in the Republic of Bulgaria” (2010–2025) defines a policy for transitioning from institutional to community care and prescribes a road map of successive disinvestment from non-family-based care structures. In October 2016, a second action plan was adopted with the objective of closing down all 137 childcare institutions within 15 years and reintegrating children into their biological families. According to UNICEF, deinstitutionalization has largely focused on quantity rather than quality. 48. A national strategy for preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting its victims (2017–2021) establishes priorities and objectives related to effective and long-term response to the crime and its consequences. Annual programmes are foreseen to operationalize the strategy and elaborate on State and non-State actors’ commitments. 49. In addition to the national strategy for reducing poverty and promoting social inclusion (2020), Bulgaria has adopted a national strategy for the integration of Roma people (2012–2020). The latter has been criticized for failing to achieve short-term goals, such as improving the housing of Roma living in settlements. It is also unclear whether there has been progress in mapping vulnerable Roma communities for targeted prevention campaigns, as part of the 2017 national programme of the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings. 1. Investigation and prosecution 50. The Child Protection Act establishes mandatory reporting by any person who becomes aware of a child in need of protection. The national toll-free helpline managed by the State Agency for Child Protection is relatively widely known, but lacks capacity, including with respect to training, follow-up to the reported cases and outreach to vulnerable and marginalized children. 51. According to the 2018 annual report of the Ombudsman, of the 362 complaints concerning the rights of the child received in 2018, 101 were related to the protection of children’s rights in the family environment. 19 In the first quarter of 2018, out of 44 consultations through the helpline, 30 cases concerning sexual abuse (of which 5 concerned sexual abuse of boys) were referred to child protection officials. Since 2016, 39 cases of sexual violence have been referred for investigation. The annual reports of the Office of the Prosecutor General do not contain information on the number of convictions on charges of child marriage, child trafficking or sale of child abuse material. Cases of sexual exploitation of children are not effectively investigated, sanctioned or prosecuted, resulting in low accountability for these crimes. In the rare instances when complaints are lodged with the police, the complaints are not duly acted upon, gathering of compelling evidence is delayed, and investigation and prosecution are stalled, resulting in victims or witnesses withdrawing their complaints. The Special Rapporteur on violence against women has also observed that one reason for low reporting rates was the requirement to prove systematic physical, psychological or sexual violence.20 19 20 Ombudsman of the Republic of Bulgaria, Summary of the Annual Report of the Work of the Ombudsman 2018 (Sofia, 2019), p. 27. OHCHR, “Official visit to Bulgaria, 14–21 October 2019 by United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Dubravka Šimonović”, 21 October 2019. 11