January

20 January. A meeting on the project "Pure Eyes" was carried out in the office of RLI. Coordinators of this project are Valentina Tsvetkova and Valery Jdrakov and the purpose of the project is to unite the efforts in the fight against pornography, met in the media, on the streets and in the newspapers and magazines in the capital and all over the country.

21 January. The first general meeting of RLI for the new 2003 was carried out in the office. The meeting was led by the Chairman of the Institute Mr. Latchezar Popov. Mrs. Daniela Georgieva - the new Project Coordinator of RLI, was officially presented to the associated members.

29-31 January. Mr. Latchezar Popov took part in the annual Conference of Europartners- an international organization of Christian businessmen, which was held in Turkey. During this convocation Mr. Popov met Romanian Christian lawyers and had the opportunity to discuss with them the future Conference of Advocates Europe, planned to be held in Romania.

February

3-12 February. Mr. Latchezar Popov, in his quality of a President of Advocates Europe, took part in the meeting of the Board of Directors of Advocates International, carried out in Washington, USA. Representatives of the different continents were invited to take part in this meeting, where the future program and strategy of AI was discussed.

11 February. The following general meeting of the RLI members was carried out in the office of the Institute. At this meeting the visitors had the opportunity to see the documentary film "Paradigms".

6 February. The next seminar on the project "Human Rights for Police Officers" was opened. The seminar includes educating the police officers from the National Police Academy on the Manual for HR on Police Officers, issued by the Institute. Lectors on this seminar were Mr. Boiko Slavchev - expert in Ministry of Interior and Mrs. Kristina Dilova - legal advisor in the Ministry of Interior.

February. The new Creeds Act was recently passed by the Bulgarian Parliament. This new law does not correspond to the requirement of the International Legislation in the sphere of human rights and religious freedom and as a result of that a group of 50 deputies from the Bulgarian National Assembly appealed in front of the Constitutional Court against some of the texts in the law. All the registered religious groups in Bulgaria are constituted as parties in this legal case, as well as two NGOs, one of which is our Rule of Law Institute and the other is the Helsinki Committee. We submitted our written legal statement this month.

25-27 February. Christine John - the International Secretary of th LCF in UK and coordinator of Advocates Europe for Western Europe, was on a business visit in the office of RLI in Sofia , Bulgaria , which at the moment functions as an executive office of AE. Christine John gave her practical support in encouraging the work of the regional nets of Christian lawyers in Europe.

March

5 March. Mr. Latchezar Popov, in his quality of a Chairman of RLI, had a meeting with representatives of the British Embassy in the R. Bulgaria in regard to funding of future projects.

5 March. Representatives of RLI took part in the official meeting in the Religious Department to the Council of Ministers of the R. Bulgaria in regard to the explanation of the visa regime in the country according to the new Creeds Act that came into force in 2002.

6 March. The following meeting on the project "Pure Eyes" was carried out in the office.

8-11 March. Mr. Latchezar Popov and Mrs. Daniela Georgieva took part in the International Conference "Human Rights and religious Freedom: religious freedom and social security", organized by the Association for Protection of Religious Freedom in Sofia, Bulgaria.

14-15 March. A working meeting of the Balkan Net of Christian Lawyers was held in Sofia , Bulgaria . The purpose of this meeting was the discussion of the specific challenges we meet as Christian professionals on the Balkans, as well as the coming Conference of Advocates Europe. Seven representatives from Romania were present at this meeting.

23-25 March. Mr. Latchezar Popov, as a President of AE, had a working visit Bucharest , Romania , in order to examine the conditions for carrying out a conference there.

May

1st of May: Mr .Latchezar Popov in his quality of president of RLI was invited to participate in business dinner and discussion by ambassador Denise Lamb. Mr .Popov was invited to share about the religious freedom and human rights in Republic Bulgaria.

22nd and 23rd of May: the first of its kind two days seminar from the Peacemakers Program took place in the office of RLI. The official speaker was ??? ?????, director of the international department of Peacemaker Ministries. The purpose of this program is equipping Christians and Christian churches to react to conflicts in a Biblical way.

25th of May: the described above seminar of the Peacemaker Program was held in Plovdiv . About 15 people took part in the training seminar.

29th of May: from the 28th till 30th of May Miss ?????? ?????, trainer in Danish Center of Human Rights with which RLI works on the common project Police Manual of Human Rights, was on a business visit in Sofia . During her visit Miss Ilker inspected the work of RLI on that project and the future place of the Institute in the Balkan Human Rights Network was discussed. On the 29th of May Miss ?????? ????? was on official visit in the National Police Academy , where training on the described above project was held and 150 policemen and cadets took part in it.

23rd of May - 7th of June: Hristo Doshkov, the coordinator of Plovdiv RLI members, as a representative of the Institute participated in 10 days Summer School of Human Rights and the Police, which was held in Dubrovnik , Harvatska. Helsinki Committee in Harvatsko organized this Summer School with the collaboration of Balkan Human Rights Network, whose member is also RLI.

June

12th of June: Jacob Knepper, a student of law at Georgetown University in Washington and a member of the Christian Lawyers in USA , arrived in Sofia , Bulgaria . Jacob would help in the RLI office and Advocates Europe as volunteer for two months.

14th of June: Mr .Latchezar Popov was invited to participate in the ceremony of the official opening of the Advocates Korea, that was held on the 14th of June in Saul. There were representatives of different Asian countries present on this event. San Erickson, the president of Advocates International and Lynn Bizard, a member of the BD of MA and deacon of the International Christian Law University in Hong Kong also participated in the ceremony. Mr. Popov in his quality of chairman of the European Christian Lawyers Organization presented the activity of Advocates Europe in Korea .

22nd of June: Ann Otram, a graduate of Faculty of Law at Oxford University , England and a member of the British Christian Law Society, arrived in Sofia , Bulgaria . Ann, as well as Jacob Knepar from USA , would help in RLI and Advocates Europe office for one month as volunteer.

23rd, 24th of June: Mr. Latchezar Popov and Mr. Boiko Slavtchev represented the RLI on a business visit in Belgrade , Serbia , that was organized by Balkan Human Rights Network in regard of the regional project of Human Rights Police Manual, which RLI participates in. The purpose of the visit was to finalize the work on the Manual, as well as planning some future projects concerning Police.

26th of June: a common meeting of RLI members was conducted. The official speaker at the meeting was Mr. Peter Norman, from the International Police and Administration Qualification, Kioln.

July

1-5 July. Latchezar Popov - Chairman of the Rule of Law Institute, made a round trip in North-East Bulgaria, visiting the cities of Varna and Balchik, holding serial meetings with current and future associate members of RLI. Latcho Popov introduced the new attendees the goals and activities of the Institute, encouraging them to be an active part of our organization.

25 July. The following Business Breakfast, organized by the Rule of Law Institute, took place in Sofia , "Paparatsi" restaurant, from 7:30 to 9:30 in the morning. Our volunteer, helping RLI during this month - Jacob Knepper from George Town University , USA , greeted the RLI members and represented himself, the country and the organization he came from. Guests from USAID also took part in this gathering.

30 July. Latcho Popov participate in a Focus Group discussion, organized by USAID in Sofia , concentrated on the reform in the Bulgarian juridical system and reorganization of the work of our courts. Some prominent Bulgarian lawyers and judges took part in this discussion.

September

5-7 September. Meeting of the Board of Directors of Advocates Europe was held from 5th to 7th September 2003 in UK , parallel with the LCF national conference. There were 130 participants in this joint event - 110 Brits and 20 participants from 12 countries, representing three continents: Europe, North America - USA and Africa - Nigeria . The twelve countries represented were: UK / Channel Islands, Ireland , Scotland , England /, Portugal , Albania , Austria , Greece , Germany , Russia , France , Holland , Nigeria , USA and Bulgaria . At the special European evening in the program of the parallel LCF national conference the British colleagues heard about Albania, Lithuania, Russia and Bulgaria, receiving live information from the Eastern Europe through the statistics, coming from their colleagues and not from the old newspapers or statistic bulletins. The meetings of the Assembly of AE went on in good spirit of unity, encouragement and creative suggestions. At the Board meeting during the Sunday morning, the Board membership was increased with Fatmir Lacej from Albania and Christine John from UK ."

5-14 September. Branimir Uzonov, an associate member of the RLI chapter in Plovdiv , took part as a representative of the Institute in the International Summer School on Human Rights, financed by the Helsinki Committee and OSF - Budapest . The seminar was held in Warsaw , Poland and its purpose was to get the participants acquainted with the international documents, referring to Human Rights. Representatives of other organizations from Poland , Macedonia , Albania , Georgia , etc., also took part in the seminars.

17 September. The following Business Breakfast, organized by the Rule of Law Institute, took place in Sofia , "Paparatsi" restaurant. Official speaker at the breakfast was Miss Laura Parker - Advisor Social Policy at the Delegation of the European Commission to Bulgaria , who shared about the structure and the spheres of activity of EC. We also heard important information about the functioning of the Volunteer Service Overseas in Bulgaria and around the world from Mr. Colin Baur - a volunteer to VOS from Canada , working on child protection issues. We had the privilege to hear one more official guest - Mrs. Bobbi Griffin from the East West Management Institute, Judicial Development Project for Bulgaria

17 September. Daniela Georgieva - Project Coordinator of RLI, presented our organization at the international conference "Contemporary Control over the Export of Weapons during the Process of Accession of Bulgaria to NATO", organized by the Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria, the Center for Studies and Democracy and the assistance of the Open Society Foundation.

19 September. Mr. Valentin Mihov - an associate member of the RLI chapter in Blagoevgrad, brought a group of young colleagues from Blagoevgrad in the office of the Institute, interested in the work of our organization. Latchezar Popov met with them and introduced them with our vision and activities in Bulgaria and worldwide. They are eager to be part of our projects and national network.

October

2nd - 5th October., Mr .Latchezar Popov, in his quality of president of Advocates Europe, participated in the North-Asian Regional Conference that was conducted in Ulan-Bator, Mongolia, during the 2nd- 5th of October. More than 100 colleagues from 14 different countries took part in that conference.

6th-7th October., on his way back from Mongolia , Mr .Popov met with some Christian Lawyers in Moscow , Russia . Ekaterina Smislova, a member of the Board of Directors of AE organized these visits and the connection between AE and Advocates International for Russia .

15th - 19th October, Mr .Latchezar Popov in his quality of president of Advocates Europe took part in the common meeting of the European Evangelical Alliance that was conducted in Budapest, Hungary, from the 15th till 19th of October, 2003. About 150 leaders, representing 31 different countries took part in this European forum.

22nd of October. RLI organized the current business breakfast in Sofia , Paparatzi Restaurant, from 7.30 a.m. till 9.30 a.m. on the 22nd of October.

30th of October., Hristo Doshkov, head of the RLI chapter in Plovdiv as a representative of the Institute participated in International Human Rights Conference in Zagreb , Harvatska. Representatives of Ministry of External Affairs of Balkan countries and NGOs from the Balkan Human Rights Network worked together towards future collaboration in the sphere of human rights in that region.

November

30th October- 2nd November, Latchezar Popov and Diana Daskalova as representatives of Advocates International, Advocates Europe and Rule of Law Institute, Bulgaria took part in the annual conference of Christian Lawyers in the USA that was held in Destin , Florida . More than 700 lawyers attended the conference. Advocates International had representatives from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America . During the conference a decision was made about next International Conference for 2004 and Barnava Project was presented for the first time.

19th November, the current business breakfast was held from 7.30 a.m. till 9.30 a.m. at Paparatzi Restaurant. The official speaker was Miss Tzveta Antonova, head of Information and Analysis department of Child Protection Governmental Agency.

21st November, Mr. Alexander Faun Lingen, a representative of European Parliament and Greta De Munk, representative of European Federalists were official guests at a meeting of RLI official and associated members. The meeting was conducted at the RLI office. The official guest shared about the perspective of the process of accepting the European Constitution and also answered different questions.

21st-23rd of November., Mr.Popov participated as a speaker at a conference of European Federalists Union, Bulgaria, that was conducted in the Military Club in Sofia . His topic was "Federal Perspective in enlarged Europe "