The residents of the Transnistrian region, regardless of their nationality, are situated practically in a legal and procedural vacuum. De jure, they are on the territory of Moldova, whose legislation provides the same guarantees for everyone. De facto, the central constitutional authorities didn’t create local institutions for this area or the existing institutions are inefficient because they do not have control over the region. Such an opinion was stated by the director of “Promo-LEX” Association Ion Manole in the hearings of the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly of the European Parliament in Brussels, IPN reports.
Ion Manole said the representatives of the constitutional authorities often refuse to examine the reported problems, avoid assuming responsibility and direct the person to the local separatist authorities. For their part, these unrecognized bodies usually near no responsibility for their actions and deeds. The region’s administration does not accept criticism and does not recognize the system problems, considering its self-styled sovereignty is thus being impinged on. In such conditions, with additional risks, the victims of abuse from this territory have to resort to the only remedy – the complaints to the European Court of Human Rights, which is for now their only hope in the long run.
“The lack of attitude and effort and especially of visible results had a double negative impact. On the one hand, such a situation encouraged those who violate certain norms and rights and discouraged those who wanted to seek justice. We thus can say that impunity is a major characteristic of such territories,” said the Association’s director.
Ion Manole stated that a lot was said and written about the frozen conflicts, with huge sums of money being spent over the last 20 years for resolving them, but, ultimately, everyone is satisfied that there is peace. Peace is very important and the fact that the military violence was stopped is welcomed. However, a series of problems appear, which are being ignored. “How this peace guarantees the minimum needed to promote and defend the human rights in these territories and what actions and timeframes were set for stopping the abuses and remedying the situation? I’m afraid not many people asked themselves such questions and even fewer looked for an answer to them,” said Ion Manole.
He also said that the lack of will and consistent efforts did nothing but worsen the problems faced by the people living on these territories, encouraging simultaneously some of the international players to extend the map of conflicts and to improve their methods.
“Promo-LEX” took part in the hearings within the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly as a member of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
