Together with the declaring of the state of emergency, the authorities resorted to derogation from three rights: right to freedom of movement, right to freedom of assembly and association and right to training. Under Article 54 of the Constitution, this limitation of the rights and freedoms should be proportional to the situation that determines it and should correspond to the unanimously recognized norms. As the isolation restriction imposed on persons older than 63 continues to be applied during the state of public health emergency, which is extended every month for an indefinite number of days, the elderly people are confused and do not understand how long they will yet stay at home. The social isolation of older persons has serious consequences for their physical and mental health, Cristina Railean, policies and advocacy coordinator at HelpAge International Moldova, said in a public debate entitled “Is isolation measure imposed on persons older than 63 discriminatory or not? that was organized by HelpAge International Moldova.
The provision on elderly persons adopted by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission stipulates several exceptions. The persons older than 63 are banned from going to public places without an urgent need, except for trips to work, when this cannot be done remotely. In a way, the right to work and labor protection is ensured. At the same time, the Labor Code provides that the retired employee who works can be fired on grounds of old age and a work contract for a two-year period can be signed with this. However, a number of pensioners said they were dismissed and they didn’t sign a work contract for a definite period of time because they form part of the risk group and should stay at home.
Cristina Railean noted that a poll carried out among 211 elderly persons from three districts in northern, central and southern Moldova showed that two thirds of the elderly respondents didn’t got to see a doctor during the first four months of the start of the pandemic even if over half of them suffer from chronic diseases and even if the provision adopted by the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission allows them to see a doctor. “How are the rights to volunteering, participation in decision-making, training, opinion and expression ensured for persons older than 63 in this restrictive period?”.
HelpAge analyzed the informative bulletins produced by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, about how a number of rights, including of older persons, have been ensured during the pandemic. This way, since the start of the pandemic, a number of EU member states have restricted the elderly’s access to public places and these were recommended to stay at home. There was also set a timetable for the elderly to buy foods or practice sport. But Finland later eliminated the recommendation for the persons older than 70 to avoid physical contact with the others as they admitted that the recommendation to stay isolated has a negative impact on the physical and mental health of the elderly. The EU states realize that long-term isolation has a negative impact and will imply higher costs than the noble intention to isolate the older persons for protection purposes.
In another development, Cristina Railean said that a study of the behavioral insights on COVID-19 in Moldova showed that only 41% of those surveyed, by 11% less than in the first study, agree that the persons older than 63 should stay at home. “We isolate the healthy elderly persons at a time when the isolation measures should be imposed on infected persons and those who came into contact with infected persons, who should be tested and identified. The older persons should have the same rights as all the others, of the other age groups, but everyone should obey the rules and we should protect each other,” concluded Cristina Railean.
The public debate was held in the framework of the project “Integration of active aging into public policies in the Republic of Moldova” that is implemented by HelpAge International and the Platform for Active Aging, with support from East Europe Foundation, in partnership with the Partnership for Development Center, with the resources provided by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Sweden.
