Besides the people’s ombudsman, there will be an ombudsperson for children’s rights who will be one of the three assistants of the people’s ombudsman. The bill was passed by Parliament in the final reading, with amendments proposed in the first reading, IPN reports.

Deputy head of the Parliament’s commission on human rights and interethnic relations Stella Jantuan said the amendment that the people’s ombudsman should serve five years in office, not seven years as initially proposed, was accepted. Instead, there was introduced the right to two consecutive terms.

There was also accepted the amendment put forward by Democratic MP Dumitru Diacov. He proposed that the people’s ombudsman should be a person with moral authority and should be elected by a majority of votes of MPs and dismissed by the votes of 3/5 of the lawmakers.

The people’s ombudsman will replace the current parliamentary ombudsman and will have the task of ensuring the observance of human rights and freedoms.

In order to ensure the protection of persons against torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, under the Office of the People’s Ombudsman there will be created a council for torture prevention. The people’s ombudsman and the three assistants will be rightful members of the Office.