Moldova makes headway in protecting human rights, report

The Republic of Moldova made progress in ensuring the protection of human rights, but a lot of work is yet to be done. Effort is made, but no visible results are yet achieved, ombudsman Anatolie Munteanu said when presenting a report on the observance of human rights in 2011, Info-Prim Neo reports. “According to our statistics, the free access to justice and the right to physical and mental integrity are most often violated. A complex approach in this respect is needed,” said Anatolie Munteanu. He also said that the number of applications concerning the two mentioned rights decreased in the mentioned period and thus it can be said that the situation has slightly improved. “However, the number of complaints in a number of areas has increased, especially as regards social protection, the right to defense and health protection. Many say the access to the health system is limited. We all saw a continuous rise in the prices and everything became dearer. The socially underprivileged persons are unable to cope,” said the ombudsman. Anatolie Munteanu stressed that Moldova faces serious problems concerning the protection of human rights in penitentiaries and the work conditions of the employees in the penitentiary system. There were cases when prison employees contracted tuberculosis. The ombudspersons admit that the lower number of applications from people is also due to the fact that no wide information campaign has been carried out. According to them, it is very important that society be well informed so that the number of cases of human rights violations could be reduced.