Nondiscrimination Coalition demands penalizing manifestations of intolerance towards minorities

The Nondiscrimination Coalition and the Human Rights Information Center requests the authorities to penalize the manifestations of intolerance and instigation to hatred towards minorities, Info-Prim Neo reports. The reaction comes after Prime Minister Vlad Filat informed about the possible amendment of the Religions Law and annulment of the decision to register the first Muslim organization in Moldova, at the insistence of the Moldovan Metropolitan Church. In a public letter, the NGOs say that as head of the Government, the Premier influences the public opinion as he favors the majority Orthodox religion and discriminates the supporters of the minority religions. “The authorities, instead of educating and informing the population and ensuring the equality of all the citizens before the law, are disposed to yield to the pressure exerted by the Orthodox clergy, instituting censorship, contributing to the proliferation of discriminatory manifestations and flagrantly violating the constitutional provisions,” reads the letter. The NGOs ask the authorities to put into practice the constitutional principle of separation of the Church from the state by not admitting the interference of the religions and ideological currents into the work of the public institutions. The organizations also demand observing the human rights and freedoms and ensuring equality before the law without negotiating with representatives of religious groups. The Nondiscrimination Coalition includes the National Youth Council of Moldova, the Information Center “GenderDoc-M”, the National Roma Center of Moldova, the Human Rights Resource Center, the International Civic Association “Hyde Park”, the Resource Center “Young and Free”, the Human Rights Institute, the Partnership for Development Center, the Development Training Institute “MilleniuM”, the National Center for Sustainable Development, and the Association “Porojan”.