Racial discrimination is a widely spread phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova in the absence of nationwide policies on the prevention and elimination of abuses based on racial criteria. Vera Petuhov, vice director of the Bureau for Interethnic Relations, in a roundtable meeting on July 12, said the United Nations, when assessing the situation in the Republic of Moldova once in five years, makes practically the same recommendations and this shows that not much is done to fight racial discrimination, IPN reports.

According to Vera Petuhov, closer cooperation is required between the central and local authorities and nongovernmental organizations. “When this cooperation does not exist, the state does not cope with the problems reported at the sessions of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,” stated Vera Petuhov.

MP Inna Supac, a member of the commission on human rights and interethnic relations, admitted that a mechanism for implementing the recommendations not always exists. “Joint work is the most efficient mechanism,” stated the MP.

National coordinator of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Veaceslav Balan said the Moldovan authorities should work out policy documents to regulate the interethnic relations. A national human rights action plan is also required. The national development strategy should be reviewed or replaced and the plan of action for implementing the interethnic relations strengthening strategy should be finalized.