Expert: We need to make efforts to strengthen the rights of people from vulnerable groups
Human rights in the Republic of Moldova must become a priority, and to protect them, it is necessary to adopt two measures: constant revision of legislation to align it with European standards and promotion of legal education, from students to adults. The opinion belongs to the director of the “Human Rights” program at the LRCM, Daniel Goinic. The expert claims that in the Republic of Moldova, in terms of human rights, there are several shortcomings, and the rights of people from vulnerable groups are most frequently violated.
“International Human Rights Day reaffirms everyone’s commitment to promote and respect fundamental rights and freedoms every day. The latest findings from the Ombudsman’s activity report are also valid for 2024. I will also refer to the report of the Equality Council from the previous year, which emphasizes that the most discriminated against people remain those from vulnerable groups, whose rights are most frequently violated. The economic impact, crises in the region, including social and energy ones, continue to generate major impediments for them and harm their rights. This is especially true for the elderly, children and people with disabilities.”
According to the expert, there are several unprotected areas. “One of these concerns the linguistic criterion, reasonable accommodation of the linguistic needs of some groups in the Republic of Moldova is not ensured. Also, people with different sexual orientations are subjected to hate messages against LGBT people. Unfortunately, domestic violence and gender-based violence are aggravated problems in the Republic of Moldova. We must continue to make many efforts to strengthen the rights of people belonging to vulnerable groups.”
Daniel Goinic notes that the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region is much more serious.
“From the reports, it is much more complicated and serious than on the right side of the Nistru. There, unfortunately, people do not have fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of association and the right to a fair trial, and these rights are flagrantly violated by the so-called authorities on the left bank of the Nistru. In this regard, the constitutional authorities must make more efforts so that people who are part of human rights defender groups or those who express their rights in the region are adequately protected, at least on the right bank of the Nistru. We also see a trend at the ECtHR, where there are many files from the Transnistrian region, but they cannot be executed, because, in most cases, the Russian Federation is responsible for the violation of the rights of the claimants, not the Republic of Moldova.”
