Stand with People On the Move detained in Bulgaria

Across Bulgaria, people on the move are routinely detained — not because they have committed a crime, but under administrative procedures that can keep them locked up for up to 18 months. With the rollout of the EU's New Pact on Migration and Asylum, detention across Europe's borders is expected to increase even further.

Bulgaria is rapidly becoming a central hub in the EU's migration control system. Under the Dublin Regulation, thousands of people are transferred back there every year, while independent monitoring bodies continue to document extremely poor detention conditions, prolonged confinement, and serious violations of fundamental rights.

Inside these centres, people are cut off from family, friends, and any reliable support. Access to information, emotional care, and even basic necessities is often severely limited. Many face deep psychological distress, uncertainty, and a sense of total abandonment.

This is why No Name Kitchen (NNK) launched Friendline: a support system for people in detention.

How Friendline Started

Friendline began as a phone line connecting activists with people inside detention centres. Through regular calls and messages, we listen to their stories, monitor their situations, and remind them that they haven't been forgotten. Over time, this contact has also helped us identify urgent vulnerabilities, document abuses, and support access to legal assistance.

What This Campaign Funds

This crowdfunding campaign supports our physical presence inside detention centres — regular visits and the distribution of essential aid.

Phone calls are often the only connection people have to the outside world, but physical visits remain essential. They turn remote solidarity into real human presence.

During visits, we bring fresh food, clothing, hygiene products, SIM cards, books, and other essentials that improve daily life inside detention. Just as importantly, we create moments of human connection and dignity in environments built around isolation and control.

Why Visits Matter

These visits allow NNK's team to:

- Improve living conditions for people in detention

- Strengthen trust and emotional support

- Identify urgent medical, psychological, or legal needs

- Maintain independent monitoring of detention practices

Without sustained external presence, detention centres risk becoming invisible spaces — places where abuses go undocumented and people disappear into silence.

Your Support Makes This Possible

By contributing to this campaign, you help us enter detention centres consistently, provide practical support, monitor conditions, and stand beside people facing isolation and uncertainty.

Your support is more than humanitarian aid. It is solidarity, dignity, and a refusal to let people be forgotten behind closed doors.