Civil society supports the governmental reforms and its major contribution should be to make the people hear and believe in these changes, Minister of Justice Oleg Efrim said in the International Festival CIVIC FEST that is held in Chisinau. According to him, the word ‘reform’ started to upset and the people no longer want to hear about reforms. They want results, but the results will come in time, IPN reports.
The minister said that a different approach to the justice system was adopted, starting with the law education and ending with the reformation of the Constitutional Court. “We have a medium-term strategy and a plan of action, with identified financing. We are only to implement the planned measures,” stated Oleg Efrim.
According to him, the NGO sector has an enormous resource capacity that can be used in the process of transforming the system. Every working group on a certain bill or the groups monitoring the implementation of the justice sector reform strategy include by a representative of civil society. The minister voiced hope that the partnership between the Government and civil society will be successful.
Soros-Moldova is implementing a project to support the justice reform. The foundation’s representative Diana Marian said that over 30 para-jurists provide legal consultancy to villagers all over the country, contributing to the legal education of the people and offering solutions to legal problems faced by them.
Petru Macovei, director of the Association of Independent Press, said that only good informing of the people can be a drive for change. The people who are correctly informed, correctly understand the situation and can determine a change. Many experts left before 2009 because they didn’t see the possible results of the reforms initiated then.
The International Festival CIVIC FEST is taking place in Chisinau on October 29 - 31 and centers on three areas: culture and the mass media in Moldova; justice and the social transformations and how the NGOs can support the democratic and social changes, and social entrepreneurship – social inclusion and community development. The event is organized by the public association Synergetica Eur/Est with the support of East-Europe Foundation and the Governments of Sweden and Denmark.
