The rights of huge numbers of the world’s 214 million migrants were not protected by their home or their host state. Millions of migrants worked in conditions amounting to forced labour - or in some cases slavery-like conditions, Amnesty International said in its annual assessment of the world’s human rights, IPN reports.
Amnesty International Moldova director Victor Pantiru told a news conference that global inaction on human rights is making the world an increasingly dangerous place for refugees and migrants. Migrants’ rights are violated both in poorly developed countries and the EU member states.
According to Victor Pantiru, many of the republics of the former Soviet Union witness cases of attacks on the freedom of expression and association. The authorities in Belarus, Russia and Tajikistan applied repressive legislation in order to stop the work of some of the NGOs and to persecute the activity of civil society. Belarus remains ‘Europe’s executioner’ because it hasn’t yet abolished death penalty. Three persons were sentenced to death in 2012.
“The phenomenon of discrimination against ethnic minorities, like the Romanies, develops in Europe. The European Commission didn’t take measures in this respect though it is in its’ legal competence to start criminal proceedings over discrimination on grounds of race,” said the director of Amnesty International Moldova.
Victor Pantiru also said that such phenomena as discrimination against the LGBT community are typical of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova. There are also other common problems that characterize the situation in these countries, including acts of torture and violence in police stations. Even if Moldova made changes aimed at preventing torture, cases of torture and ill-treatment on the part of the police continued to be reported in 2012.
As regards the LGBT community in Moldova, Victor Pantiru said the fact that the sexual minorities could stage a march in Chisinau represents progress for Moldova. He also said that the problems concerning the Law on Equality of Chances are false and are maintained for political goals so as to divide society.
