CCPR

Despite improvements, Moldova faced criticisms from UN Body.

Geneva 14th October 09 – The UN Human Rights Committee examined the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in the Republic of Moldova during its 97th session (12 – 30 October 2009).

On this occasion, a coalition composed of four Moldovan NGOs submitted an alternative report to draw attention to the State failure to fully implement the ICCPR provisions.

Despite some improvements, Committee members, as well as NGOs, raised various concerns about the rights of prisoners, including the unhealthy conditions, the overuse of preventative detention and the frequency of ill treatment by police and detention officials. Committee members highlighted that the pre-trial detention should strictly comply with the limit established in national law.

Discrimination remains one of the major concerns in Moldova. Despite the claims of the Government, comprehensive legislation has not been introduced. Moreover, the Delegation denied that some minorities are still victims of discrimination, such as Roma or other vulnerable groups. On the contrary, various sources showed cases of discrimination in connection of access to public services (health, education), and the attitude of police towards the Roma population.

Police violence in connections with the April 2009 parliamentary election were also discussed at length during the review of the report, and the UN Experts echoed the concern of NGOs that the events of April 2009 demonstrated weaknesses in the judicial system, by allowing widespread police brutality to go uncondemned. NGO reports reveal that 97 complaints of police ill treatment were made in relation to the April demonstrations. “The Prosecution Office had only opened criminal investigations in nine cases; in 35 cases it had so far refused to open criminal investigations, and 51 cases were still pending” said Serghei Ostaf from CReDO. “Only one case has been brought to the Court.” added Vanu Jereghi, from Moldovan Institute for Human Rights.

The final Recommendations of the Human Rights Committee on Moldova will be released on 30 October 2009 “and the Committee will ask the State to provide information on concrete steps taken to implement the Recommendation by the end of October 2010” explained Patrick Mutzenberg from the Centre for Civil and Political Rights.

Contact:
Patrick Mutzenberg, CCPR Centre Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.
Serghei Ostaf, CReDO, Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.
Vanu Jereghi, MIHR, Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.