Hate speech is one of the barriers encountered by the persons with special needs and representatives of ethnic minorities, Cornelia Ursu, coordinator of training programs at the Public Association “Institutum Virtutes Civilis”, stated in a public debate hosted by IPN.

“Hate speech and discrimination have a very great impact, especially online where punishment is less probable. So, hate speech is somehow a barrier, especially to persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities, which prevents these from taking part in election processes. In the campaign prior to the November 5 elections, I discussed with one of our beneficiaries, who is a person with disabilities and she didn’t have the courage to run for mayor. Instead, she ran for councilor, but told me that her challengers had a dirty campaign and used the disability against her,” stated Cornelia Ursu.

She noted the important role played by the educational activities that should start from schools, with children, based on that person-centered approach according to which we are all humans and have equal rights. At international level, there are good practices that can be borrowed by the Moldovan authorities and implemented at the central and local levels. “I recently read some reports about two campaigns conducted in Norway and one of them was carried out in cooperation with the Equality Ombud of Norway, with a women’s organization to encourage women to become involved in the election campaign, titled “More Women in Politics” and the motto was “Vote for a woman, choose diversity”.”

Cornelia Ursu said the association she heads during the past few years carried out a number of activities, including so-called Women’s Leadership Academies, to encourage women to become involved in politics. “By such activities, we trained about 200 women. The course centered on subjects related to political doctrines, public debates, TV debates, formulation of the mission, mission statements, namely the succinct presentation of the person and the electoral program. We made a nationwide call to apply to training. We didn’t prioritize particular regions. Out of the about 200 women trained, over 50 became involved in the campaign prior to the November 5 elections,” stated Cornelia Ursu.

She also said that particular results are achieved, but some of the parties or their leaders do not show interest in projects that refer to inclusion and diversity in local elections.

The public debate entitled “Participation of women, ethnic minorities and persons with special needs in local elections” was staged by IPN News Agency as part of the project “Stimulation of discussion in the mass media about traditional particularities of local elections and the need for Europeanization” which is supported by Soros Foundation Moldova.