Quality of human rights observance didn’t increase in Moldova – Ombudsman

The situation regarding human rights observance in the Republic of Moldova didn’t evolve in the right direction, despite the efforts made by the state, this being the conclusion of the co-reporters for the Republic of Moldova of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. This declaration was made on Friday, the 30th of June, in the Parliament session by the parliamentary Ombudsman Raisa Apolschi, head of the Centre for Human Rights (CHR), who presented a report regarding the human rights observance in 2005. The report referred to the cases of human rights violation registered by CHR. According to it, in 2005 1422 appeals were registered, compared with 1102 in 2004. Their number is increasing this year also, at the beginning of the year 968 appeals being registered already. The majority of them refer to the limitation of the right to free access to justice- almost 400 appeals, or over 27%. Also, violations of the rights regarding personal security and dignity were registered, free access to information and the right to social assistance and protection etc. Talking about the problems related to free access to justice, Apolschi mentioned especially the delay of the penal and civil cases that often occur having no serious reasons, the lack of money for the initiation of the civil trial and hiring a lawyer, not executing court decisions. The lawyer mentioned as well the problems of the prisoners and of the penitentiary system from the Republic of Moldova, where, according to her, the respect of the person’s dignity who is under arrest is far from being perfect. According to the quoted source, among the requests addressed to CHR some gaps in the existing legal framework were found, like discriminating conditions for certain categories of citizens in the process of their rights observance, in this why the constitutional principles regarding equity and equality before the law becoming in contradiction with each other. According to the Ombudsman, the parliament is obliged to assure not only the official equality of the citizens’ rights and freedom, but also equal chances of accomplishing them. The ombudsman referred as well to the violation of the right for free circulation and the right to education, the right of the persons with disabilities etc. The MP of the Alliance “Our Moldova” Veaceslav Untila qualified the situation of human rights observance in the Republic of Moldova as “deplorable” in his declaration, saying that no changes were registered in its quality during 2005. “The state cannot assure its citizens with basic rights, and the so called reforms don’t increase the quality of justice, being only some populist actions meant to distract the attention of the Western partners”, says Untila. The democratic MP Oleg Tulea, as well referred to some aspects that prove the frequent violation of human rights in the Republic of Moldova. On the other hand, the communist MP Nicolae Oleinic says that lately positive evolutions in this field are registered, mentioning in this context that certain measures were undertaken in order to improve the situation in education, health and penitentiary system etc. The Parliament adopted a decision on the Report of CHR which shows several difficulties in its functioning, caused by formal attitude of the structures from central public administration and local one towards the appeals of the ombudsmen, as well as the lack of efficient measures for providing the CHR with financial, technical and material basis, as well as by some gaps in the activity of the ombudsmen. The Ombudsman Institution was created in the Republic of Moldova in 1997.