I’d hope that citizens punish destructive politicians in next elections, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

{IPN interview with Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks} [ - This is your first visit to Moldova as the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. What did you expect to find in Moldova and to what extent have your expectations proved true?] - This is not my first visit to Moldova. In general I was here several years ago, as a guest lector in a series of seminars, and I was then highly surprised by a number of things. I was very pleasantly surprised by the high intellectual level of civil society and by their commitment to human rights. [ - How advanced do you think Moldova is in the field of human rights compared with itself five or six years ago, since you mentioned you had been in Moldova earlier, and compared with other Council of Europe countries today?] - My task is not to compare countries from across the Council of Europe, but to look at each country as a human rights environment independently. In this sense, I think that Moldova has changed a lot over the last few years. Many of the institutions have proven themselves to be good institutions. The National Institute of Justice for example, which I visited. It was created in 2007 and appears to enjoy the trust and respect of all the players in the system. [ - Often human rights are greatly affected where the justice system is unjust and where state institutions are corrupt. What is your opinion about the reforms initiated in Moldova in these fields and how genuine they are, and when do you think their effects will be felt?] This was one of the focuses of our visit – the strategy for the reform of the justice sector. I must say that the strategy is very ambitious and we welcome the efforts to strengthen the independence and efficiency of the judiciary. I will point to things that were good and other things that still need to be worked on. First of all, it is a very comprehensive reform plan which covers all the major sectors of the legal system. It is a long term plan that is relying not only on the national resources, which have increased significantly for the judicial sector, but also is intended to attract European money. I think this is very important for Moldova and for human rights in Moldova. I think you also made progress with the reforms in the police to curb the problem of ill-treatment, which in the past was very spread among law enforcement officials. In terms of what needs to be done, I would urge the Parliament of Moldova to appoint as quickly as possible the two missing members of the Constitutional Court to make this body fully functional, especially in this time of political turbulence. I think some reforms in the Prosecutor’s Office were began, but the need for deeper reforms was revealed by the hunting incident. Many of the Venice Commission’s recommendations are still very much relevant today, especially the need to depoliticize the General Prosecutor’s Office and the selection and appointment of the general prosecutor, as well as the need to strengthen the independence of prosecutors. The reform is very ambitious, which means it will require a lot of resources. The starting point from which Moldova began the reform in terms of funding for the judiciary was very low, among the lowest in Europe. There is a real need to maintain an increased financial commitment to the implementation of this reform, including by increasing the salaries of judges. This will not resolve the problem of corruption, but this is a necessary condition. You need to move forward and to increase the status and prestige of these people and remove one incentive for corrupt activities. We are also in favor of strengthening other independent institutions that could ease a lot and complement the work of the judiciary - the ombudsman’s office and the still to be created equality commission. The Parliament must appoint the members of the board of the equality commission, which wasn’t yet done. There were discussions about reforming the ombudsman’s institution. We think it’s important to ensure adequate funding, but also to make sure that the selection process for the ombudsman is transparent and based on objective criteria. [ - Since you have mentioned this hunting incident of sad fate and since this incident triggered the explosion of the political life in Moldova, what is your impression of this incident and the way the state institutions functioned in this case?] As I said, I think it revealed deep-seated problems within the General Prosecutor’s Office. It also showed the collusion between different actors in the judicial sector, which shouldn’t have taken place. I’m hoping that this incident can serve as a catalyst for reforms and to basically make the Moldovan public less tolerant of corrupt practices and to strengthen the resolve of the reformers to change the system. [ - The gradual reformation of the internal life, the harmonization of the national laws and practices with the European standards, free access to the European Court of Human Rights represent if not a guarantee, then as a chance or an aspiration that human rights will be respected within the territory controlled by the constitutional authorities in Chisinau. However, most international experts have found that the people living in the Transnistrian region lack both guarantees and prospects in what concerns human rights as long as that territory is controlled by an unrecognized, secessionist administration. Can we state that the people in this region became hostages of this sort of unfavorable situation for them? What do you think would be the leverages to bring about an improvement of the human rights situation on the left side of the Nistru River?] - I have not yet been to the other side of the river to meet with the de facto authorities in Tiraspol. I will do so tomorrow. The reason I’m going there is because I think there should be no areas in the Council of Europe that are not being monitored by human rights watchdogs and are not engaged in the dialogue on how to improve the human rights situation. Some good work was began by my predecessor Thomas Hammarberg, when he was Commissioner for Human Rights, and my intention is to use the primary tool that is at my disposal – which is dialogue, to engage in a dialogue with the de factor authorities of the Transnistrian region and to assess their willingness to move forward by dialogue because my goal is to improve the lives of people where they live. I think the people on the other side deserve the same respect for human rights as everyone else here. [ - As regards the political turbulence that you mentioned earlier. You’ve been in Moldova exactly on the day of the dismissal of the Government and had the occasion to see practically all the actors involved. How do you assess the current situation? - I’m very happy that despite the turbulence, our visit has been very successful. I had meetings with very many people although some of the time has changed around. I very much appreciated the flexibility of the Moldovan authorities and their wrongness to me with me. I think there is a huge risk that reform momentum will be lost and that everything will stop for six months if the political leaders of the country are not able to come to an agreement on creating a new parliamentary majority that can support a Government. What happens if you do not have a functional Government? This means that any reform plans are put on hold, that international partners know that they are speaking with a lame duck who will probably not be in office in the future, and that no long-term plans can be made. I don’t think that Moldova can afford this now. So, my hope is that the political leaders will come to an agreement and that you will have a functional Government with majority support in the Parliament, that will rapidly appoint Constitutional Court judges, the members of the quality commission and will continue the good reforms that were began in the justice sector If they are not able to do this, I would hope that the citizens of Moldovan draw the appropriate conclusions and support the constructive politicians and punish the destructive ones in the next elections. [Valeriu Vasilica, IPN] {Chisinau, March 6, 2013}