The situation of the media in Moldova was assessed by a number of member states of the UN within the Second Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council in Switzerland. Among the recommendations intended for Moldova are to adopt measures to address the problem of self-censorship of Moldovan journalists, to limit the concentration of media ownership and to ensure media pluralism, IPN reports.

In a press release, the Association of Independent Press says 206 recommendations concerning the improvement of the situation of human rights were formulated for Moldova at this year’s UN session in Geneva. Of these, 175 were already accepted, while 31 are being examined. Among these are to fully guarantee the freedom of expression and information by combating media monopoles, respecting media pluralism and working out a new regulatory framework for creating new media outlets and governing the activity of the existing ones.

The Moldovan authorities were also recommended to adopt a comprehensive legal framework to facilitate access to information, to stimulate media pluralism and to protect the independent mass media, to support the activity of civil society and to continue the efforts to root out corruption from the area of access to information of public interest.

According to Reporter without Borders, in 2015 Moldova slipped again in the World Press Freedom Index, this time by four spots, to the 76th, among the 180 assessed countries.