Experts of “Promo-LEX” Association and the Agency for Efficient and Responsible Government (AGER) said the progress made in implementing the plan of action of the justice sector reform strategy continues to be slow. Thus, of the 288 measures planned to be taken by June 30, only 174 were fulfilled, while 115 haven’t been yet implemented. The ratio in percentage is thus 60:40. The results are contained in the quarterly monitoring report No. 6 on the implementation of the justice sector reform strategy, produced by experts of “Promo-LEX” and AGER.
In a news conference at IPN, AGER head Olesea Stamate said that even if the measures implementation rate shows a positive growth compared with the previous report, the pace of fulfilling the current and overdue actions is still worrisome. Of the 23 measures that were to be taken between April 1 and June 30, only 7 were implemented, while 16 haven’t been yet implemented. Thus, only 31% of the planned actions were completed, while 69% haven’t been fulfilled yet.
As regards the institutional capacity, Olesea Stamate said that the secretariat of the working groups works well, with small exceptions. The meetings are appropriately held and the materials on the website dedicated to the reform are accessible. However, the reform implementation results continue to be hidden from the genial public.
Regretfully, the adjustment of the personnel and structure of the institutions covered by the justice sector reform strategy is overdue. “The strategy has been almost half implemented, but the structure of the relevant institutions hasn’t been adjusted so that they are able to successfully implement the strategy. The internal anticorruption mechanisms of the responsible institutions haven’t been yet strengthened and the already adopted anticorruption measures are not effectively implemented,” stated Olesea Stamate.
In the same connection, the representative of “Promo-LEX” Association Pavel Postica underlined that the most serious shortcomings are related to the reformation of the Prosecutor General’s Office. “There is a complex package of about ten measures that should have been implemented already. These are very important measures, with some of them being overdue since 2012. They include the package of laws to amend the Constitution so as to modify the method of appointing the prosecutor general and the adoption of a new law on the Prosecutor General’s Office,” he stated.
Pavel Postica noted that effort should be made to implement the actions concerning the carrying out of studies to find out the real situation and the necessities of the penitentiaries in Moldova so that they meet the international standards.
The monitoring included two basic elements: assessment of the implementation of the plan of action of the justice sector reform strategy and monitoring of court hearings. There were analyzed two categories of actions: overdue actions that were to be implemented in the second quarter of this year and actions overdue by March 31, 2014.
