The Nondiscrimination Coalition, which consists of a number of NGOs, suggested amending the Contravention Code. It worked out a bill with a series of proposals and will submit it to the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination and Ensuring of Equality. For its part, the Council is to table this bill to Parliament, IPN reports.
Thus, the Collation proposes extending the statute of limitations for contraventions from 3 to 12 months because this term is now too short for performing all the procedural measures. “This would allow holding accountable all the persons who break the Law on Equality of Chances,” said bill author Dumitru Rusu.
Olga Bulmaga, of the Council on the Prevention and Elimination of Discrimination, said the generally short statute of limitations prevents punishing discriminatory acts. The examination of complaints in court can last from 30 to 90 days. “We witnessed cases when the examination of a case lasted for over a year and the case was dropped because the statute of limitations expired. In such cases, we cannot speak about punishment,” she stated.
The Coalition suggests including new articles in the Contravention Code so that besides harassment at the workplace by the employer, it also stipulates the forms of harassment, in different areas of activity, and who is punished for these. Another proposal is to define two new contraventions - “instigation of discrimination” and “victimization” - so as to offer the victims a remedy for discrimination.
