Amendments to Antidiscrimination Bill show Government's cowardice, Amnesty International

“The recent amendments to the Antidiscrimination Bill show the cowardice of the Government”. The accusation has been brought by Amnesty International Moldova. In a press release, the organization says that changes have been made not only in the title of the document, but also to its contents, which could limit the rights of many people, Info-Prim Neo reports. According to the organization, the Moldovan authorities gave in to pressure from “the conservative society”. The statuses of “sexual orientation”, “health state”, “fortune” “social origin” were eliminated from the list of discrimination criteria. Amnesty International Moldova denounces these changes as undermining the value of the law for defending human rights. Both the Council for preventing and fighting discrimination and courts will have their hands tied because the current bill provides an inadequate and inefficient mechanism for defending human rights. “The Government’s move is regrettable and proves that officials aren’t capable of defending their own legislative proposal. We understand those in charge often have to make decisions between the devil and the deep sea, but being a leader means to have the capacity and courage to take decisions without compromises for the sake of rating”, declared the executive director of Amnesty International Moldova Cristina Pereatcu. The organization urges the authorities to take serious attitude towards this draft law and remove the recent gaps. The final draft was discussed on Thursday, at a meeting of the Cabinet. According to a government press release, the document will be named “the Law on Equality of Chances”. The final version has clear stipulations regarding the institution of family, adoption relations, religious denominations and their components in the part that concerns their religious views. Adopting the law is an EU condition in the visa regime dialogue.