By the end of 2016, Moldova should make maximum effort to successfully implement the justice sector reform strategy, which has been stagnant for over a year, representatives of NGOs said in a news conference centering on the proposals to amend the legislation in the justice sector, IPN reports.
The proposals were put forward by the Center for Reform in the Judicial System, which was launched by a group of judges who pledged to actively contribute to the reformation of the system. Vlad Gribincea, director of the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, said a part of these proposals run counter to the justice sector reform strategy, which is a public policy document that should be used by all the decision makers from the justice sector as guidance.
The NGOs fully support only the proposal to include trainers of the EU member states into the personnel of the National Institute of Justice. Another five proposals are supported in principle, but not in the proposed form and with the proposed content. These refer to the revision of the powers of the Chisinau Appeals Court, the creation of a permanent commission for supervising the implementation of court decisions, the reorganization of judicial inspection, the judges’ obligation to mediate and reduction of judges’ immunity.
“We are delighted that groups of interests propose legislative initiatives, besides the Government. On the other hand, these public policies should be formulated in a professional way by carrying out studies and analyzing the existent situation and the cost-efficiency ratio,” said the head of the Anticorruption Alliance Olga Bitca.
The members of the NGOs said some of the initiatives should be withdrawn or should be reviewed later. The NGOs that subscribe to this position are Amnesty International – Moldova, Promo-LEX, the Association for Participatory Democracy, the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance, the Foreign Policy Association and another 13 nongovernmental organizations.
