Even if they worked hand in hand on the program for the support of the Roma population in the Republic of Moldova for 2022-2025, their main recommendations weren’t ultimately included in the document, said representatives of the Coalition “Voice of the Roma” (CVR) that has 35 Roma NGOs as members. They are also dissatisfied because the working group constituted to implement the program does not include members of Roma civil society.
“In this case, we see the attitude of the central public authorities that ignore us as civil society. I said and repeat that we are those who worked hand in hand, meeting after meeting, online, live. We came together to consult all the state institutions so as to together design a good document that could be implemented. The authorities’ intention not to implement this program that is only a “check mark” for the international institutions is evident,” Valeriu Căldăraru, executive director of the National Association of Community Mediators that forms part of the CVR, stated in a news conference hosted by IPN.
Valeriu Căldăraru said that a lot of the actions proposed by the Coalition “Voice of the Roma” weren’t added to the program. Some of the recommendations were taken into account, not yet the most important ones. For example, the new program practically does not indicate again the financial resources and this makes the implementation of the program impossible.
According to Valeriu Căldăraru, the community mediators are one of the neglected areas. But these are actually one of the most important rings for supporting and changing the life of the Roma at local and national levels. The program contains only one action referring to meditators where the financial resources are indicated – 15,000 lei that is to be allocated for organizing a meeting with community mediators. But this sum is very small.
The executive director of the National Association of Community Mediators also said that they proposed and discussed the creation of a unit for the implementation of policies concerning the Roma in the local public administration. But only the conduct of an analysis for the eventual creation was accepted.
“How can the CVR be removed from the process of deciding the actions that are to improve the socioeconomic life of the Roma population? Let’s stop with these “check marks”. If we look at the new program, most of the actions should be implemented with the assistance of the community mediators who will have tenfold more work. But a mediator gets a salary of 3,000 lei. Even the guards of mayor’s offices have a higher pay. But the mediator’s responsibilities are enormous. Respectively, the program doesn’t envision the adjustment of the legal framework for increasing the salary of mediators,” stated Valeriu Căldăraru.
CVR executive director Marin Alla said the program for the support of the Roma population in the Republic of Moldova for 2022-2025 wasn’t coordinated correctly and wasn’t finalized so that it does not take into account the views and wishes of Roma civil society.
The conference forms part of the series of conferences held as part of IPN News Agency’s project “Support for the Justice Reform through multimedia coverage of cases of alleged injustice”. The Agency does not bear responsibility for the public statements made in the public sphere by the organizers of news conferences. IPN News Agency gives the right of reply to persons who consider they were touched by the news items produced based on statements of the organizers of the given news conference, including by facilitating the organization of another news conference in similar conditions.
