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130 NGOs from all over the country are preparing a protest against the involvement of children in the “Big brother family” TV reality show. The organizations express their disagreement with the intention of the producers in an explicit declaration addressed to the Chair of the National Assembly, the parliamentary committee on education, the Prime minister Boyko Borisov and the State Agency for Child protection.

The idea of the producers in the new season of “Big brother” is to include children and their parents as the winners will receive a new apartment, a car and 200 000 BGN. This TV format possesses serious risks  for the health and development of children, both for those in the house and for thousands of those in front of the television screens. Moreover the inclusion of children in such formats is violating their rights under the UN Convention on the rights of children. The campaign has been initiated by the National Network for Children, where Center Amalipe is a member. From the psychological point of view three months stay of a child who is under continuous 24-hour surveillance not only of cameras but also of million of people in front of the TV Screes is absolutely unacceptable, Deyan Kolev underlined during a special press conference organized on 16 February. This deprives children of personal space and opportunity to express themselves. A child’s personality is formed through its social contacts. During the time when these children will be in the house of “Big Brother” these contacts will be missing.

Deyan Kolev pointed out that the inclusion of children in “Big brother” violates art.32 of the Constitution of the Republic of Bulgaria under which the privacy of citizens is inviolable, and art.16 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It states that no child shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with its private life and family. In addition, all children under the age of 16 must attend school, but during those three months of the reality format they will be isolated from the normal learning process. According to him if the provisions of the Education Act are followed  their parents must be penalized.

The isolation of a child even only three months could lead to serious consequences in its psychological development. As an example Deyan Kolev pointed out such a show  in the United States. It involved a group of teenagers who were isolated from the outside world and their parents for two weeks. The aim was to examine the impact of civilization on them. This experiment has led to a number of psychological problems among participants who had never repeated completely.