The head of the Parliament’s commission on human rights and interethnic relations Doina Gherman asks the Government to reintroduce the ratification of the Istanbul Convention in the agenda of the next meeting of the Cabinet. According to the MP, by removing the subject from the agenda the Government hampers the ratification of the Convention, which represents lack of respect for the victims of violence, IPN reports.

Doina Gherman told a news conference that by an application filed by PAS MPs to the Parliament Speaker, they requested that the ratification of the agenda should be included in the parliamentary agenda by December 10, when it is celebrated the International Human Rights Day. No response followed yet.

Doina Gherman reminded that Minister of Justice Fadei Nagacevschi in a public event said Moldova could ratify the Convention as there are no discrepancies between this and the county’s Constitution. Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection Viorica Dumbrăveanu also said there is political will to ratify the Convention by this yearend.

However, on December 11 the bill on the approval of the Istanbul Convention was removed from the agenda of the Cabinet’s meeting for the reason that there are a number of proposals on the issue, which should be debated publicly. Doina Gherman considers there is not enough time to ratify the Convention by the end of this month when not even public consultations were announced.

The MP called on the minister of health, labor and social protection to promote the initiative or to resign if the Convention is not rarified.

Over 10,000 cases of domestic violence were reported in Moldova in 2017. In 2018, the figure exceeded 11,000. Each fourth woman from urban areas and each third woman from rural areas experienced a form of violence in the course of their life.