A number of nongovernmental organizations are launching a campaign to promote nondiscrimination entitled “Law 121 is for everyone” (Law 121 is the Law on the Equality of Chances). Representatives of civil society and of the Council for the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring of Equality, in a news conference at IPN, said they regret that four years after the adoption of this law, there are yet persons who challenge it, even if this document ensures the nondiscrimination of all those who are in Moldova.
The Council’s head Yan Feldman said that a series of video clips to promote equality will be broadcast within the campaign. It will be explained that this law is for everyone, not for particular groups of people. Some 87% of the country’s population considers that there is discrimination in Moldova.
Olga Manole, coordinator of the Human Rights Program of “Promo-LEX” Association, said the Law 121 is alive and this offers everyone a real chance to protect themselves. The persons with disabilities are widely discriminated against at work. “Except for a paltry pension of less than 1,000 lei, the state does not offer these persons real chances of getting hired. The persons with disabilities are often able to work,” she stated.
Nadejda Hriptievschi, programs director at the Legal Resources Center of Moldova, reminded that Law 121 was adopted amid great opposition on the part of society and the political class. “It’s a pity to ascertain that after four years, there is no more resistance. Regretfully, discrimination was and will be because the people are different. Some are poorly educated. I don’t think we can deny the necessity of such a law,” said the jurist.
Dumitru Rusu, jurist at the Nondiscrimination Coalition, stated that following approaches made earlier by the Coalition, a group of drugstores and a group of banks accepted to adjust their about 500 branches during three years so that these become accessible to persons with reduced mobility. The Nondiscrimination Coalition also pleaded for the newspaper “Makler” not to accept discriminatory announcements. After a period of resistance, the paper agreed to publish on its website a warning about the penalties faced for placing discriminatory announcements.
Law 121 was adopted in 2012 as a condition imposed by the European partners for liberalizing the visa regime. Then and now, a number of politicians, especially Socialist and Communist ones, as well as priests and parishioners have demanded that the law should be abolished.
