Human rights in Transnistrian region in crisis, warns Promo-LEX
In November 2025, the human rights situation in the Transnistrian region experienced a "a sharp and systemic deterioration."* This decline was marked by increasing authoritarian control, militarization, and ideological indoctrination, alongside a worsening socio-economic crisis. These findings were reported in a retrospective published by the Promo-LEX Association, which monitored recent developments in the region.
Promo-LEX monitoring reveals that “repressive practices are on the rise,” and the de facto authorities are implementing policies that significantly impact the fundamental rights of the population, particularly affecting children, youth, and vulnerable groups.
One of the most concerning practices reported is the automatic imposition of “Transnistrian citizenship” on children born in the region, including orphans. Promo-LEX warns that this practice poses “long-term risks of recruitment into paramilitary structures and potential criminal prosecution on political grounds.”
In the penitentiary system, the situation for detainees has deteriorated due to mandatory salary deductions to cover food costs. According to the report, these deductions “can reach up to 100%,” while facing minimal funding for food and medical care, leading to “serious risks of forced labor.”
Promo-LEX also reports on the expansion of the "Safe City" surveillance system, which law enforcement agencies are using to create a mass biometric monitoring mechanism. This system relies on real-time facial recognition, with plans to connect private cameras to it starting in 2026.
Children and adolescents are increasingly targeted by repressive policies, including the implementation of Operation "Adolescent," which is presented as a measure to prevent juvenile delinquency. However, according to Promo-LEX, this initiative involves "punitive actions, 'patriotic' activities of a paramilitary nature, and the placement of vulnerable children in closed institutions," without genuine mechanisms for social support and protection of children's rights.
The report also indicates that students and teachers are participating in "patriotic" programs coordinated by the Russian Federation, which promote loyalty to the Kremlin and a distorted version of history. Additionally, young people are being recruited "from the age of 16" into the so-called "law institute" to prepare for roles in local law enforcement agencies amid an acute personnel shortage.
The militarization of education is extending into the medical field, with plans to introduce military training in higher medical education, including the establishment of an army department for medical students.
Promo-LEX also highlights the manipulation of recent history, noting the instrumentalization of Ilie Ilascu's death to promote a distorted narrative of the 1992 Moldovan-Russian war. The organization reports that ideological indoctrination is intensifying, evidenced by a record number of "patriotic" activities – "984 activities with 136,637 participants in the first half of 2025 alone."
On a socio-economic level, the increase in utility tariffs disproportionately affects vulnerable groups and Romanian-language schools. For certain services, these institutions are paying "rates up to four times higher than those of schools controlled by the occupying regime."
The Promo-LEX Association underscores that these developments reflect a clear trend of escalating human rights violations in the Transnistrian region in recent times.
