Civil society asks for transparency in appointing ombudsmen

A number of human rights NGOs show concern with the lack of transparency in selecting the candidates to be appointed as ombudsmen at the Human Rights Center (HRC), Info-Prim Neo reports. Representatives of 5 NGOs warned Tuesday at a news conference the mandates of the present ombudsmen Raisa Apolschi and Iurie Perevoznic expired on July 4. Parliamentary Lawyer (ombudsman) Ivan Cucu killed himself in August, while the fourth position of an ombudsman for the children's rights, created in March, is still vacant. The NGOs accuse of lack of information on behalf of the specialized committees of the Parliament, on the part of the Presidency and of the HRC as to the procedures of selecting the candidatures for the vacancies. “This situation of total uncertainty is unfavorable for the HRC, particularly, and has a negative impact on the situation in the area, in general,” said the executive manager of the HR Resources Center (CReDO), Sergiu Ostaf. The president of Association Promo-Lex, Ion Manole, has warned that by delaying the appointments, the authorities violate the Law on ombudsmen. According to it, the candidates are put up during the last month of the work of the acting lawyers, and the appointment of the new parliamentary lawyers is done no later than within two months after the expiration of the former ones' mandates. The NGO representatives suspect that selecting the ombudsmen secretly bears a significance. “In march the Parliament operated some dubious changes to the Ombudsmen Law, as excluding the age threshold of 35 years. The electoral year is approaching and we admit the modifications were done on purpose,” Vanu Jereghi from the Human Rights Institute has said. The NGOs ask the authorities to start the appointment procedures of the new ombudsmen, and to disclose the related information in case those started already. The NGOs also ask for public debates on the issues. The candidatures are proposed by the Moldovan president or by 20 parliamentarians. Leonid Bujor, a member of the Human Rights Committee of the Parliament has told Info-Prim Neo it happened that the mandates of Raisa Apolschi and Iurie Perevoznic expired when the MPs were on vacation. He thinks the candidates will be proposed soon. The committee has considered nomination of Carolina Ciugureanu-Mihailuta to be appointed as children's rights ombudsman, after the proposal of a group of Communists MPs.