UN rapporteurs signal high level of torture in Moldova

11.07.2008 07:08
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UN rapporteurs signal the high level of torture and other inhumane treatment in Moldova. The conclusions were made public on Friday at a news conference, Info-Prim Neo reports. They say maltreating detainees is a wide-spread phenomenon. Beating with fists and rubber rods, electric shocks, inserting needles under nails are often used methods to get confessions from suspects, including in the Transnistrian area. Although the law allows them to complain, the torture victims have little chances to be heard, said a rapporteur, Manfred Nowak. According to the UN rapporteur, Yakın Erturk, although the gender equality is promoted by law, the Moldovan women confront with patriarchal attitudes and stereotypes perpetuating their subordinated position in the family and society. The domestic violence is going on calmly and is not officially recognized within society or even by the abused women, being accepted as a normal thing for the private life both by men and women. According to them, institutions protecting the violence victims are not enough. There is only one shelter for them and their children. In the context of the phenomenon of illegal migration, the women become slaves from the point of view of their working conditions and being trafficked through different networks, Yakın Erturk underlined. The rapporteurs recommend the Moldovan authorities to implement strategies monitoring torture cases. In order to avoid wrong concepts and prejudices related to violence against women it is necessary to have plans to implement the related laws and policies, they say. On the basis of the new law on labor migration, it is necessary to take decisive steps to regulate the flows of migrants ands ratify the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. As for preventing and fighting human beings trafficking, Manfred Nowak recommends to introduce mechanisms to lodge complaints in an accessible and confidential way, searching the guilty of torture, reducing to 48 hours the time allowed to be in the police's custody. They also recommend the access to independent medical examination. The rapporteurs have been on a fact-finding trip to Moldova during one week and will report to the UN Council for Human Rights.