National Roma Centre demands public apologies from Democratic Party leader

The National Roma Centre demands that the leader of the Democratic Party of Moldova (PDM) Dumitru Diacov should apologize publicly for his statements regarding the Roma population, which the Centre describes as “racist and discriminatory”. Otherwise, they will notify the Centre for Human Rights of Moldova of the given fact. Ana Lepadatu, the Centre’s president, issued a public protest letter criticizing the use by Dumitru Diacov of a proverb considered by the signatory as offensive to the Roma ethnic community. She says that by using the proverb intentionally, the PDM leader and the MP Dumitru Diacov showed his prejudices against a national minority and violated the Constitution of the country and such international documents as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities of the Council of Europe, the Recommendations of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights etc. According to the letter, at a news conference Diacov used the proverb “the gypsy also has money, but there is no use of it” to express his scepticism towards the leadership skills of Vladimir Filat in connection with his leaving of the PDM. The National Roma Centre describes itself as an unpartisan nongovernmental organization that promotes the rights and interests of the Roma by monitoring and advocacy activities with the aim of combating the prejudices and discrimination against Roma and by creating equal opportunities as regards the access to work, healthcare services, education and other public services.