Bulgaria:  A domestic violence law, one of the first of its kind in the region to include protection-order provisions, was passed by parliament.  It is modeled after Minnesota’s similar 1979 law: The Women’s Human Rights Program of The Advocates for Human Rights (www.mnadvocates.org) worked with the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation to frame the legislation, and Minnesotans organized a local and national letter-writing campaign to the Bulgarian Parliament in support of the law.