Dobrinka Ivanova Chankova is a pioneer in introducing restorative justice practices to Bulgaria’s criminal justice system. Dobrinka is a member of the Faculty of Law and History at South-Western University in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. She is  an Associate Professor on Criminology and Human Rights Protection.  Currently, she is  also the the Executive Director of the Institute for Conflict Resolution – Sofia.

Her professional interests and concentrations in law studies include:

• human rights
• European integration
• alternative conflict resolution
• victim-offender mediation
• the rights of crime victims
• restorative justice systems

Dobrinka received her law training at Sofia University.  Her background includes working and doing research in

• the Directorate of Human Rights at the Council of Europe (Strasbourg),

• the European University Institute (Florence),

• the University of Cambridge in the Civil Service College (London),

• the Central European University (Budapest),

• the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolutions-Stadtschlaining.  

Dobrinka participated in the working group that developed the Bulgarian Mediation Act 2004. Currently, she is a member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice, the Union of Bulgarian Scientists, and the Union of Bulgarian Lawyers. She also serves on the Editorial Board of the Law Without Borders Journal.

Dobrinka has also served as an Expert on the Council of Europe Committee on Mediation in Penal Matters (1995-1997) and as a Permanent Secretary of Bulgaria in the EU Sub-Committee on Approximation of Bulgarian Legislation to the EC Law (1996-1997).  She has written extensively on law issues. 

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Important Idea

Crime victims are largely neglected.  During the recent years the number of victims has increased dramatically.

The state counteraction to crime is not effective, so victims do not believe in the abilities and the good intentions of law enforcement agencies and refer to them only in the most hopeless, desperate situations. 

The potential of the public in terms of crime prevention and in the process of rehabilitation of offenders has been totally ignored.  

As a novelty to Bulgaria’s system of criminal justice, victim-offender mediation will

• relieve the pressure on the judiciary
• help to strike the right balance between the victim’s needs and the offender’s rights
• overcome some of the problems associated with imprisonment
• will offer less costly methods of dealing with crime that are at the same time more humane and less reliant on punishment. 

It is therefore the relevant response to current needs in Bulgaria.

(Excerpted from “Mediation – An Innovation in Criminal Justice” by Chankova, currently at press.)

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Leading Edge. Dobrinka Chankova’s current interest is the recent  project titled “Promotion of Restorative Justice in Bulgaria". The project design includes an information campaign, educational program, workshops and related activities aimed at increasing public awareness of the benefits of restorative justice.

Reach Dobrinka Chankova at   chankova@yahoo.com

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