The Non-Discrimination Coalition will promote the adoption of the non-discrimination policy within a general project, launched Monday at a news conference, Info-Prim Neo reports. Vera Turcanu, the leader of the Youth National Council from Moldova, has said that, through this project, the Non-Discrimination Coalition wants to make the law on non-discrimination adopted till early next year, to relax and solve cases of discrimination. The draft law has been developed by the Justice Ministry and has been set for consultations with the civil society. According to Nicolae Radita, the president of the Roma National Center, the coalition members will actively participate in developing the law and will monitor the policies on preventing and countering discrimination. Round tables will be organized in different localities to debate issues related to discrimination. The people having suffered from discrimination cases can ask for legal advice at dialing hot line 08003- 8003. Sergiu Ostaf, the executive manager of the Human Rights NGOs Resources Center (CreDO), has said the draft law largely corresponds with the European principles and practices, but needs certain improvements, without which the law may remain a declarative and inefficient act. The Non-Discrimination Coalition suggests a series of changes to the draft. It recommends to set an institutional frame to prevent discrimination. Thus, the responsibility of investigating and solving discrimination cases should rest with ombudsmen and with the Council against discrimination – a consulting body attached to the Ombudsman Office, to be formed of NGO representatives. The Coalition also asks to include civil society representatives into the Governmental Commission on preventing and countering discrimination. Teodor Carnat, an executive director with the Human Rights Helsinki Committee from Moldova, an organization not making part of the Non-Discrimination Coalition, opines the mechanism proposed by the coalition will not be efficient, since the ombudsmen already do have the duty to counter discrimination. The Helsinki committee proposes to set the function of an ombudsman specialized in searching the sanctioning discrimination cases, since such an institution is present in almost all the EU countries. The draft is criticized by many religious organizations, which require to exclude the phrase “sexual orientation” as a discrimination criterion. Teodor Carnat says the Moldovan society is not ready yet to accept an anti-discrimination attitude as to sexual minorities, a norm imposed from outside, by international bodies. The Non-Discrimination Coalition is a union of a number of NGOs aiming at promoting the human rights and freedoms. Their project called “Promoting non-discriminating policies in Moldova” has a budget of 62,000 euros and is financed by the Swedish Helsinki Committee and the Budapest-based Opened Society Institute.