Juridical aspect of frozen conflicts is inadequately discussed, experts

The right to liberty and security of the persons living in conflict zones was discussed at an international conference held by Promo-Lex Association in Chisinau on Tuesday, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Together with foreign experts we will find the positive examples of certain countries in order to implement them in the national legislation as well as negative examples that we should avoid,” said Alexandru Postica, the Association’s executive director. Speaking about the situation in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, lawyer Nikoloz Legashvili, the chairman of the Administration Board of the Georgian Association “Article 42 of the Constitution”, said that “we can now state with certitude that Russia is the second party not the guarantor of the security and peace as it claimed to be at the beginning. Russia is a participant in the conflict that has lasted for over 15 years, time during which the Georgians’ right to security was violated.” Legashvili stressed that there is a great difference between the conflict zone in Moldova and those in Georgia when we speak about border crossing. “In our country, it is dangerous to be on separatist territories, where the Russian armed forces and tanks strengthened border control after last summer’s events.” Dumitru Manzarari, expert of the Institute for Development and Social Initiative “Viitorul”, said that the lack of evident violent trends is a characteristic feature of the Transnistrian conflict. “It is harder to cause violent outbursts as both of the sides (Moldova and Transnistria) do not use hostile military methods. Therefore, we can avoid violations of human rights,” Manzarari said. According to him, the frozen conflict became a political framework generated by Russia and it is very important to understand the used mechanisms and set objectives. “We focused on two positive steps aimed at ensuring the observance of human rights in the conflict zone: we follow how the rights are respected through mass media and the contacts that we have with the nongovernmental organizations that have access to the region,” the Deputy Minister of Reintegration Ion Stavila said, referring to the efforts made by the constitutional authorities. “The Republic of Moldova is weaker than its opponent in the conflict. During the conflict, Moldova has been more dominated than free in its acts. The official Chisinau must have a say and not allow that Moldova’s fate is decided by the great powers,” Dumitru Manzarari replied. The conference will continue tomorrow. The experts will discuss the liberty and security of the people living in Northern Caucasus and the former Yugoslavia and the role of the International Criminal Court. The event was organized as part of the Marshal Fund-financed project “Liberty and Security of Persons in Conflict Zones”.