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On 2 June 2014, Promo-LEX Association in partnership with The Equal Rights Trust from London launched, at a roundtable, the Project: “Strengthening civil society organizations from Moldova, including the transnistrian region, to combat discrimination through advocacy actions.”

The main objective of the project is to contribute to the strengthening of the protection mechanisms against any form of discrimination in Moldova.

Ion Manole, the Executive Director of Promo-LEX, outlined the important role of the EU Delegation in combating discrimination and promoting equality in Moldova, including by supporting civil society in this area. “The project will have a comprehensive approach on monitoring all the patterns of discrimination in Moldova, including the implementation of Law no.121. At the same time, the project refers to the civil society overall and aims at strengthening its capacity in Moldova, including in the Transnistrian region, in the area of fighting discrimination and promoting equality,” added Ion Manole.

Equal Rights Trust representative Jim Fitzgerald said: “The Law on Ensuring Equality entered into force 18 months ago, and the experience of ERT in many states that have recently adopted such laws shows that it takes a lot of work once the law is enforced to have it function in practice, and civil society is an important actor in this context.”

Andrei Brighidin, a member of the Council for Preventing and Combating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality in Moldova, welcomed the launch of the project and noted: “The project is extremely important in view of the fact that, for the first time, I hope, we will start receiving complaints from the Transnistrian region.”

“We believe this project will strengthen the Moldovan Government efforts and lead to the expected results. I want to emphasize that it is important not only to adopt a law on equality and non-discrimination and to create a Council of Equality, it is also important to show that this instrument and the mechanism works in practice,” said Mindaugas Kacerauskis, Political Officer at the EU Delegation to Moldova.

The project was designed to address weaker points in the Moldovan legal framework, practices and policies on equality. The project will focus on both the shortcomings and inconsistencies of the Law on ensuring equality and the problems pertaining to the implementation of the legal framework in the field of equality.

The Project “Strengthening Civil Society in Moldova, including the Transnistrian region, in fighting discrimination through advocacy actions” is funded by the European Union.

For more details, contact: Olga Manole, Human Rights Program Coordinator, Promo-LEX Association, tel: (+373 22) 449-626, 450-024, email: [email protected].