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At a roundtable on March 19, the Promo-LEX Association and The Equal Rights Trust released the Report „Discriminatory ill-treatment in Moldova”. The Report examines the specific phenomenon of discriminatory ill-treatment against women, persons with disabilities, LGBT, ethnic and religious minorities in Moldova

“The purpose of this report is to inform Moldovan authorities and general public on the issues at hand and make the authorities aware of the need to address effectively any allegations of discriminatory ill-treatment that come to their knowledge”, stated Mrs. Olga Manole, Promo-LEX Association.

“Despite many international agreements which contain commitments to the right to non-discrimination and the right to equality in some sense the right to equality was being poorly served. The Equal Rights Trust works to develop the capacity of civil society to advocate to improve legal protection from discrimination” said Mr. James Fitzgerald, The Equal Rights Trust.

Present at the event the representative of the EU Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, Mr. Hubert Duhot, emphasized the EU Delegation support for civil initiatives in Moldova, noting the importance and necessity of such publications and the relevance of the issue discussed at the event.

According to the conclusions of the Report, Moldova lacks a comprehensive non-discrimination legislation that would provide definitions of direct and indirect discrimination, prohibit all forms of discrimination on particular grounds and in particular areas of life, as well as provisions on adequate sanctions, compensation and on shared burden of proof.

The failure of the public authorities to effectively address discriminatory ill-treatment lies in their lack of capacity to identify a case as being motivated by the individual’s characteristic. However, the cases included in this report demonstrate that the legal framework is not being adequately enforced. In many cases, relevant enforcement bodies are unwilling to comply with the legislative procedures or are unaware of them.

The Report identified a clear need for the Moldova to harmonise and strengthen its legal system so it combats and provides real protection from discriminatory ill-treatment, in particular, for the vulnerable groups that are most at risk.

The Report includes a series of recommendations addressed to authorities aiming to enable Moldova to comply with its obligations to prevent and combat discriminatory ill-treatment, such as: adoption of the comprehensive anti-discrimination legislation in line with international and European standards with no further delay; effective implementation of the domestic legal framework and procedures aiming to prevent, combat and sanction discrimination and discriminatory ill-treatment; and enforcement of the effective sanctions against state actors found to have engaged in dis¬criminatory ill-treatment. Moreover, the law enforcement bodies should strengthen mechanisms to detect and investigate cases of discriminatory ill-treatment and the prosecutors and judges should increase application of the international human rights principles of prohibition of ill-treatment and non-discrimination in domestic litigation.

Some recommendations target civil society actors. Thus, NGOs working with vulnerable groups should develop and strengthen legal aid programs within their organizations and to improve their advocacy skills needed for efficient advocacy campaigning on prevention and prohibition of discriminatory ill-treatment.

The event is organized within the framework of the project “Strengthening Legal Protection from and Raising Awareness of Discriminatory Ill-Treatment in the Republic of Moldova, including Transnistria”, a project funded by the European Union through the European Instrument for Democracy & Human Rights (EIDHR). The project is co-funded by UNDP Moldova within “A joint UNCT for Human Rights Protection and Promotion in the Republic of Moldova” Project.
The project was implemented in partnership with „The Equal Rights Trust”.

The Report is available in Romanian and English languages here.

For further details please contact: Carolina Bondarciuc, Public Relations Officer
Tel: (22) 45 00 24, GSM: 069637849, e-mail: [email protected]