Moldova is in the process of European integration

Mass anti-government protests took place in Chisinau in the fall of 2022. One of the reasons was the violation of human rights in Moldova. Let us remind you that discrimination is traditionally interpreted as a violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of a person and a citizen, depending on his gender, race, nationality, language, origin, property and official position, sexual orientation, place of residence, attitude to religion, belief, belonging to public associations or any social groups.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu

In particular, women and children are subjected to various oppressions, in many countries the press is not free, and dissenters are silenced, in too many cases - forever. Although it was possible to achieve some results over the past six decades, human rights violations are still extremely common in the modern world.

Discrimination can be expressed both in the form of action and in the form of inaction. Значение имеать общая дренностность of the subject's actions on the violation of the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the victim, depending on his belonging to certain groups on various grounds: religious, political, ideological, social. The specific content of the actions can be expressed, for example, in the refusal of employment or study, in the provision of services or performance of work, in the provision of information, etc.

While the authorities claim that there is no discrimination based on race, nationality or religion in Moldova, representatives of human rights organizations claim the opposite. After all, the population and human rights specialists in the Republic of Moldova consider discrimination to be a widespread problem. In most cases, the respondents did not go to court or to the specially created "Council for the Prevention and Liquidation of Discrimination and Equality" (we will talk about it below) after the act of discrimination itself. At the same time, every second respondent stated that the Moldovan justice system is not ready to consider cases of discrimination.

Actualization of the problem of discrimination in Moldova became the war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine. This factor contributed to the strengthening of the pro-Russian element in the country, and it is possible that it became the catalyst for the protests against President Maia Sandu. Thus, incitement to discrimination was claimed in the case of socialist deputy Vladimir Odnostalko, whose party blames the West, but avoids the qualification of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Speaking on an online show, he linked the children of Ukrainian refugees with violence, suggesting that refugees are the main cause of social problems.

The idea that the government will deal only with the refugee crisis was also expressed in the statements of former socialist leader Ihor Dodon, who also spoke of the "danger" for public order created by refugees.

Since the first days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, incitement of hatred and discrimination against Ukrainian citizens has intensified in the public space of Moldova. All this is generated by politicians, opinion leaders and representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate. At the same time, religious and political rhetoric was not completely new — it was based on stereotypes, information manipulation, and fueling social fears. So, some Moldovan media institutes have become platforms for generating and spreading hate messages that justify or promote war.

Council for Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Equality

The report on the situation in the field of prevention and combating discrimination in 2021 was presented to the parliament at the end of May 2022 by the president of the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Equality, Jan Feldman. The council was created 9 years ago and fulfills its mission, as we understand from the name, which is to prevent and protect against discrimination, ensure equality, promote equal opportunities and diversity, strive to develop an inclusive society in which people exercise their rights and freedoms regardless of individual characteristics.

The Council is an independent national institute for the protection of human rights, designed to give people a simpler and easier way to protect their rights. According to Jan Feldman, 87% of Moldovans say that they faced discrimination in the past year; it only shows that discrimination exists in the Republic of Moldova. This is a rather large percentage, not necessarily all those who say that they have been discriminated against, know what discrimination means, and here the Council is still working in this direction. There is no doubt that discrimination is a fairly common phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova, the number of complaints addressed to the Council increases every year.

The most discriminatory groups are people with disabilities, discrimination based on disability, discrimination based on gender (female) and discrimination based on language (ethnicity) are also very often observed. According to the report, acts of discrimination occur more often on the basis of criteria: language — in 19,6%, sex/gender — in 15,7%; ethnic origin — in 11,8%, disability — 7,8%, followed by political affiliation — 5,9%, religious beliefs — in 5,9%, opinion, sexual orientation and age in 3,9% of decisions, status pensioner, social status and procedural status in 2% of decisions. In 15,7% of decisions, criteria different from those mentioned above were used. Harm to dignity by incitement to discrimination is the area with the most convincing decisions adopted by the Council in 2021

In 2022, the government introduced changes aimed at eliminating the shortcomings of the regulatory framework, improving mechanisms for protection against discrimination, and strengthening the institutional strengthening of the Council on Equality.

On July 3, 2022, the law prohibiting incitement to hatred entered into force, so the responsible bodies will have sufficient leverage to act in the case of crimes motivated by prejudice, as well as in discourse that provokes discrimination. But whether this law will work is another question.

On September 13, 2022, at a meeting of the Commission on National Security, Defense and Public Order, a draft law aimed at improving mechanisms for protection against discrimination was approved.

The draft law was developed as part of the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Agreement on the Association of Moldova with the European Union and is aimed at eliminating the shortcomings of the legal framework in this area. The authors of the document also suggest adding the concepts of "soliciting" and "victimization" to the Criminal Code.

Thus, any undesirable behavior leading to the creation of an intimidating, hostile, degrading or insulting situation, with the purpose or consequence of infringing human dignity on the basis of: race, will be ordered. skin color; nationalities; ethnic origin; social status; tongue; religion or belief; floor; gender identity; age; disabilities; HIV status; health conditions; political views; property; origin; sexual orientation; marital status, etc.

It should be noted that sexual harassment is still punishable under the Criminal Code.

At the same time, the Law on Ensuring Equality can be supplemented with a number of discriminatory criteria, including those related to social origin, nationality, social status, health, political or any other convictions. The inclusion of these criteria follows from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights.

The bill will be considered by the second commissions, and then it will be considered by members of the parliament. It is assumed that the Law "On Ensuring Equality", effective since January 1, 2013, guarantees equal rights to everyone in political, economic, social, cultural and other spheres of life. For this purpose, in February of the same year, liability for discriminatory actions was officially introduced. Careless behavior of employers, officials, journalists, entrepreneurs can result in serious punishment.

The law prohibiting various forms of discrimination has been discussed in Moldova for several years. His acceptance was one of the conditions in the framework of the visa dialogue with the European Union. Moreover, development partners insisted on the introduction of broad restrictions that would extend to absolutely all spheres of life.

If the norms of the new law are strictly followed, then discrimination in the republic should disappear as a phenomenon. Moreover, at all levels and in all spheres, up to the ban on dating with the indication of the race of the desired partner or the legislative introduction of gender quotas.

Through this legislative initiative, it is proposed to expand the criteria of non-discrimination, improve the collection of data in the field of equality, conduct monitoring, evaluation and annually report on the results, and strengthen the institutional base.

First of all, there is still no law in Moldova that would condemn or provide specific punishment for hate crimes. All hate crimes, which in fact are considered aggravated in all developed countries, therefore, if the crime is committed out of hate, your situation worsens, and your punishment will be more serious, in the Republic of Moldova they do not qualify as hate crimes. They are qualified as robbery, hooliganism, etc. So it already depends on how this crime was caused.

The Equality Council will have the right to issue mandatory orders to persons who have committed discrimination in order to eliminate the violations that led to discrimination, or to stop the implementation of illegal decisions or orders that are discriminatory. Persecution in all spheres of life, not only in the sphere of work, as today, will be punished for a misdemeanor. This is after the Parliament approves the amendments made this week by the Cabinet of Ministers to the Law on Equality.

Thus, it is proposed to increase the staffing schedule by another 13 divisions in the Equality Council, taking into account the growing number of filed complaints, in order to improve the methods of considering complaints, the frequency of hearings and the extension of the term of consideration of complex cases, which would allow them to conduct multi-aspect inspections, as well as the possibility of presenting legal conclusions in courts on cases of discrimination.

It is also proposed to create a consultative council, consisting of representatives of civil society and scientific circles, to support the Council, to provide information and recommendations to the Council, but also to help in evaluating its activities.

In addition, the application of the law was expanded by ensuring the protection of all individuals and legal entities under the jurisdiction of the Republic of Moldova from acts of discrimination. The project also establishes discriminatory actions in the field of education and in the implementation of the profession. It was explained that discrimination is prohibited both in the sphere of employment, self-employment, and as a member of professional associations and trade unions.

The project was developed in accordance with the National Action Plan for the Implementation of the Association Agreement between Moldova and the EU and carries forward the recommendations made by the experts of the Council of Europe. This should be proposed to the parliament for adoption.

So, according to the long-term observations of the Council, Muslims, representatives of sex minorities and ethnic Gagauz and Roma remain the most committed social groups in Moldova. These are the data of research conducted in our country by the United Nations.

Gagauz

The conclusion on compliance with the Moldovan Framework Convention on the Protection of National Minorities was approved in May 2016 and promulgated by the Council of Europe in March 2017.

Moldova, having received the status of a candidate for joining the European Union, assumed a number of obligations, but does not fulfill them. As reported by the press service of the executive committee of the Gagauz Autonomous Region, the head of Gagauzia (Bashkan) Irina Vlah said at a meeting with a group of international experts of the Council of Europe, which arrived in the center of the autonomous region, the city of Komrate, that "...in the Copenhagen criteria, which are the basic conditions for accession to the EU, the need to respect and protect the rights of national minorities is clearly indicated. All citizens of our country, regardless of nationality, should have the opportunity to preserve their culture, native language, not be discriminated against, and participate in democratic processes." She called on the Council of Europe to act as a guarantor of the fulfillment by the Moldovan authorities of their obligations to protect human rights. The head of the autonomous region accused Chisinau of creating problems that prevent national minorities from integrating into Moldovan society.

As a reminder, Sandu visited Gagauzia on September 2, 2022. She did not meet Vlach. The meeting of the president with the deputies of the National Assembly of Autonomy lasted several minutes. Sandu needed to start negotiations with Russia about lowering the price of gas, and also began to talk about the problems caused by the actions of the central authorities. After a short discussion, the president said goodbye to the deputies and left. Peace in Moldovan society can be preserved only thanks to the refusal of politicians to make aggressive attacks, as well as the search for compromises and consensus. This was announced by the Bashkan of Gagauzia, Iryna Vlah. According to her, for more than a dozen years, politicians in Moldova have been "aggressively, cynically and selfishly fighting for power", while "people continue to leave the country, because the opportunities provided by Moldova are few and unattractive...Moldova urgently needs a wide social consensus. We need to learn to avoid unnecessary polemics. Controversies destroy society and prevent focus on priorities," Irina Vlah noted.

The wishes of the country's residents are simple: they want to see Moldova as "a large, well-organized construction site where modern roads and bridges, factories and factories, water supply and sewage systems are being built." They want more stable and well-paid jobs,

"Focusing on these tasks can become a national compromise. Compromise is not a bad word. In a democracy, life and peace depend on compromise. Intransigence fueled by unwillingness to seek compromise is the most dangerous problem of our time, which threatens the unity of the people and hinders the development of the country," Irina Vlah concluded.

The head of Gagauzia also advocated that Moldovan politicians understand that all citizens of the Republic of Moldova are equal, regardless of who they support in the elections, and political choice "cannot be an element of discrimination and division of people into good and bad."

To be continued.

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Mihai Rusu