Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Bjørn Berge will be visiting Moldova during April 8-9. The official will raise the improvement of the quality of medical services for detainees, as well as aspects of gender equality and violence against women, IPN reports.

Bjørn Berge will have meetings with Minister of Justice Veronica Mihailov-Moraru, State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Cuc and Speaker of Parliament Igor Grosu. He will also meet with the chairwoman of the Audiovisual Council Liliana Vitu to extend cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the Council of Europe in the audiovisual sector.

On Monday, at 1 p.m., Bjørn Berge will give a lecture at the Moldova State University and exchange views with students on gender equality and the impact of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, which the Republic of Moldova joined in 2022.

On April 9, starting at 10 a.m., the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe and the Minister of Justice will attend at the Pruncul Penitentiary the handover of a batch of medical equipment, devices and furniture purchased within the project “Strengthening the prison and probation reforms, provision of health care and treatment of patients in closed institutions in the Republic of Moldova”. For the second time, the Council of Europe donates state-of-the-art medical equipment to satisfy the urgent needs of medical units in all prisons so that they meet the standards set down by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.