Women suffer most often from discriminatory ill treatment, report
The women suffer from discriminatory ill treatment most often. At the same time, the disabled persons are the most vulnerable in such situations, especially the persons suffering from mental disorders because they are unable to defend themselves, shows a report by the NGO “Promo-LEX” that was launched on March 19, Info-Prim Neo reports.
“The women represent more than 50% of Moldova’s population and even if they are not subject to domestic violence they are potential victims. There are cases when the women are punished by the law enforcement bodies even if they are victims. The disabled personas are ill-treated even in the state institutions where they receive treatment,” said Olga Manole, project coordinator at “Promo-LEX”.
Among the state institutions that use discriminatory ill treatment most often are the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family, and the Prosecutor General’s Office. “When discussing with social workers, we found out that they did know that social violence was used in families in their settlement, or, if they knew, they did not report such cases as they did not know they should do it,” said Olga Manole.
The report says Moldova should strengthen its legal system so as to combat the discriminatory ill treatment and to offer real protection to the victims. It recommends Parliament to immediately pass anti-discrimination legislation, in accordance with the international and European standards, and the Government to adopt a more firm approach to the state agents that do not know or do not want to implement the procedures existing in the field.
The NGOs working with vulnerable groups are urged not to only focus on the social problems faced by these groups, but to develop and strengthen legal assistance programs and to improve the advocacy capacitates so as to conduct campaigns to prevent and ban the discrimination-based ill treatment.
The report “Discrimination-based ill treatment in Moldova” was compiled within the Strengthening Legal Protection from and Raising Awareness of Discriminatory Ill-Treatment in the Republic of Moldova, including Transnistria Project that is implemented in partnership with the Equal Rights Trust. It addresses discriminatory ill treatment on grounds of gender, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion.