Simona Veleva - Interim chairperson

Dr. Simona Veleva, PhD, Lawyer.
Elected by the National Assembly Decision of 5 May 2022. Simona Veleva holds a PhD in Constitutional Law from the Faculty of Law of Sofia University ‘St. Kliment Ohridski’, where she graduated in law. Currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Media Law and Ethics and Copyright Law at the American University in Blagoevgrad.
Simona Veleva has worked with various media, journalists and organizations, including on projects related to ethical reporting of children in the media, fighting misinformation, combating hate speech and others.
She has worked as an expert at the Supreme Bar Council, and her work includes preparing opinions before the Constitutional Court, reviewing bills and other acts announced for public discussion and submitted to the National Assembly and preparing opinions on them.
She has worked with numerous organizations such as the Bulgarian Donors Forum, the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions of Bulgaria (CITUB), UNICEF and others on human rights, children’s rights and the right to expression. Under her editorship the Bulgarian translations of the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese Constitutions have been published, as well as a collection of case law of the Federal Constitutional Court of the Federal Republic of Germany, and the Basic Law of Germany has been published in her translation. She is an expert at the International Digital Rights Fund — Digital Freedom Fund.
Simona Veleva is an active advocate for deaf people and their right to express their opinions. She actively participates in the working group of the Ministry of Education and Science on the development of the Bulgarian Sign Language Act (promulgated SG No 9 of 2 February 2021), representing organizations of deaf people before the National Assembly in the adoption of the bill. Alongside, she is working to enforce the Act and increase deaf people’s access to media and media services and ensure their right to express their opinions.