Social rights and right to a fair trial are most commonly violated in Moldova – experts

Moldova has many problems in what concerns the protection of human rights, despite actions undertaken in this respect. The most frequently violated rights are the social rights, free access to justice and the right to a fair trial, experts say. Stefan Secareanu, the chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for Human Rights told Info-Prim Neo that the human rights will be respected in Moldova in case the undertaken reforms will become efficient. Human rights protection is directly proportional to the level of reforms implemented and comes along with the alignment of the legislation with the European standards. According to him, the most frequently are violated the rights related to the justice and to a fair trial. This fact is suggested by the huge number of petitions addressed to the ECHR and the concerning number of cases lost by Moldova. It speaks about problems as regards the independence of justice, despite the amendments to the legislation on strengthening the independence of this power. This is the cause why both the citizens and the state suffer, the cited source stated. Secareanu added that the cases related to the violation of convicts’ rights are increasing lately. The chairman of the committee for human rights says that certain governmental structures and civil servants have a formal attitude towards this issue and do not acknowledge the responsibility they bear. Raisa Apolschi, the director of the Centre for Human Rights said that at present the concept of human rights is extremely popular. Moldova had undertaken concrete actions concerning the protection and promotion of human rights by joining the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; adjusting the national legislation to the international standards; democratizing and reforming the legal bodies; implementing the National Action Plan on Human Rights. However, it is not enough to say you are attached to the human value and declare them as major objectives. The human rights must be promoted and protected via efficient implementation mechanisms, the cited source added. The analysis of the problems tackled by petitioners proves that the level of human rights protection did not evolve qualitatively in Moldova. This finding was also presented by the experts of the European Commission who have recently visited Moldova to analyze the achievements related to the Moldova-EU Action Plan. Among the most frequent problems tackled by citizens in the petitions submitted to the Centre for Human Rights, Apolschi mentioned about the free access to justice; personal security and dignity; right to social assistance and protection. According to the ombudsman, this state of affairs is generated by the social-economic situation of Moldova and the lack of an executory discipline. Sergiu Ostaf, the director of the Human Rights Resources Centre (CREDO) says that at the final stage of the EU-Moldova Plan’s implementation, the situation in what concerns the protection of human rights is not pleasing. Key institutional reforms were never finished or never started in some fields. Among the fields where no progress was noted, Ostaf mentioned the security and internal affairs field etc. Minor progresses can be ascertained in the executory field. Few changes and improvements can be mentioned in other fields. Torture cases, the efficiency of prevention measures, the trust of citizens in the law-enforcement bodies are the fields with the poorest progress. On the background of the countries from the region, these progresses can be qualified as relative regresses, the director of CREDO considers. At the same time, the cited source mentioned about some progresses in the fields such as public media, social rights, access to healthcare services, protection of human rights, and to a certain extent, gender equality. Among the most frequent violations of human rights in Moldova, the expert mentioned personal security, torture at the investigation stage, freedom of speech, if taking into account the poor access to public systems providing public interest information, social protection of children, youth, and families with many children, freedom of business activity and its protection by the state. The International Community celebrates the Human Rights Day on December 10.