Ombudsman Ceslav Panico turned his attention to the case of rape of a young mother by three individuals in a locality in Strășeni district and other serious cases of violence against women and girls. He sent an official request to Prime Minister Dorin Recean, asking to convene a meeting of the National Council for Human Rights, IPN reports.

Ceslav Panico stressed that the recent reported tragic cases of violence against women and girls and the multiple unreported cases cannot be tolerated and must not be left without increased attention from the public authorities, but also from the entire community. Although the Republic of Moldova made progress in developing a system to prevent and combat violence against women and domestic violence, the recent cases show that gender-based violence remains a widespread phenomenon in society.

The Ombudsman notes with concern that a high degree of tolerance of violence against girls and women persists both among the population and among specialists with responsibilities in preventing and combating this type of violence. Ceslav Panico also acknowledges his own fault in the insufficiency of the actions carried out by the Ombudsman’s Office to make decision-makers more responsible and make them to better implement in practice the existing standards and policies in the field of prevention of gender-based violence.

The Ombudsman intends to compile a special report on the causes and circumstances that led to the escalation of gender violence in the Republic of Moldova and also on the conduct of legal proceedings and examination of cases. The report will include solutions and recommendations for urgent and long-term measures to help prevent and combat this phenomenon, ensuring that such tragic situations do not happen again.