The United Nations along with its partners announced the winners and handed over the UN awards for outstanding achievements in human rights area in the Republic of Moldova in the period 2020 - 2021 during the 16th edition of the competition. Traditionally, the award ceremony is held on the International Day of Human Rights that is celebrated on December 10, IPN reports.
Simon Springett, Resident Coordinator of UN Moldova said that beginning with 2004, the UN Country Team in Moldova has annually awarded the best actions to promote and protect human rights on both banks of Nistru river, except for the year 2020 which was marked by a public health emergency – the COVID-19 pandemic.
”The COVID-19 pandemic deepened the already existing sustainable development challenges across every sphere of life, from health to economy, security to social protection, education to labor, and freedom of movement to freedom of expression. It has also taught us a valuable lesson: we cannot build a better future if we do not ensure that human rights are at the heart of our recovery and development efforts,” stated Simon Springett.
Bea Ferenci, Head of the UN Human Rights Office in Moldova, said the awards this year celebrate equality. “All the human rights are born equal in rights. All the people have the same opportunities. We have the right to life, right to health, right to speak without fear. The UN Human Rights Gala recognizes the efforts made to minimize differences in society. The human rights defenders play an important role in ensuring en equal society,” stated Bea Ferenci.
British Ambassador to Moldova Steven Fisher noted that there are rights that can be realized by political will. For example, the right not to be tortured. Regrettably, some of the rights continue to be violated in the Republic of Moldova, particularly in the Transnistrian region, including the right to free expression, the right to functioning of Romanian teaching schools.
“The Ministry of Labor and Social Protection highly appreciates the efforts of the civil society organizations to defend and promote human rights for every citizen. We are convinced that by joining our efforts we can recover better from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and further build a better future for all of us,” declared Tudor Mancaș, general state secretary of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Moldova.
The UN Human Rights competition of 2021 has four awards, the winners of which are as follows: General Award for an Outstanding Human Rights Achievement at national level between 2020 and 2021- Liliana Rotaru, director of CCF Moldova; Award for an Outstanding Human Rights Achievement at the local level between 2020 and 2021- Angela Croitor; Special award for Outstanding Achievements related to the rights to health, education, labor and/or social protection in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in the period March 2020 to 15 October 2021 – Non-governmental organization “Concordia”; Special Award for groups/organizations for active involvement in the promotion of equality and non-discrimination between 2020 and 2021 - National Coalition “Life without violence in family”.
“In over 18 years of activity, over 6000 children managed to remain with their families. Frequently human rights for many of our citizens are a luxury and many times they need community’s support to access them,” stated Liliana Rotaru.
The annual competition “UN Human Rights Awards” is a public, transparent and impartial competition in which every individual or institution can participate by self-nominating or suggesting a nomination in accordance with the categories of awards announced and the regulation of the competition.
