Advancement of democracy and
4.2. Human Rights
Advancement of democracy and good governance
Diagnosis
In 2004-2006 the Republic of Moldova achieved some progress in adopting poli-cies in the fi eld of human rights. However, the progress is modest if compared to the results achieved by other Central and East-ern European countries. Adoption of the relevant legislation most of the times is not followed by coherent and systematic poli-cies to implement it. Among the main dif-fi culties one can mention low capacities of the government to express effi cient policy options and enforce necessary policies. Th e available resources of the civil society are not used systematically; oft en the executive approaches in a formal way the involvement of the civil society in the process of policy draft ing. Another important obstacle is the low priority given by the decision-makers, including politicians, to the policies in the area of human rights. Policies aiming at the promotion of human rights are not consis-tently embraced by the political forces. Th e main forces generating changes still are the foreign actors (in particular the relevant commitments under the European Union – Republic of Moldova Action Plan) and the contribution of the specialised civil society organisations.
In this section the situation in four par-ticularly problematic areas concerning the respect of human rights in the Republic of Moldova will be analysed:
1. Freedom of expression, media, and access to in-formation.
2. Freedom of assembly and association.
3. Individual freedom and security.
4. Non-discrimination of national minorities.
Th e degree of the freedom of expression is directly proportional to the situation of public and private media, institutional and economical conditions of their functioning, severity of interference and intervention of public institutions, economical capacity of the sector, degree of self-organisation, and the quality of professionals in the area. Dur-ing 2004-2006 a slight improvement can be
noted, this trend being marked by the draft -ing of a more progressive institutional and legislative framework, but its implementa-tion in practice and operaimplementa-tion is unsatisfac-tory at the moment. In the mentioned period, ECHR condemned the Republic of Moldova in 5 cases117 for the breach of the freedom of expression, the total amount of the costs for the society rising to 50,000 Euros.
Th e public audiovisual institutions still strongly favour the ruling party, and they are not independent as regards their edito-rial policy. Th is is particularly obvious on the eve of elections118. Th e government rep-resentatives enjoy a better and more exten-sive coverage. Th e public media still remain the dominant source of information for the rural population; hence pluralism and edi-torial autonomy are important in order to ensure the freedom of expression and create equal conditions for all political and public actors. Progress can be noted as regards the creation of a legislative framework and in-stitutional premises for a stronger indepen-dence of the Teleradio-Moldova Company.
Th e composition of the company’s Council of Observers, appointed according to the new law, is more balanced compared to the previous one and includes representatives of the civil society and opposition.
Th e private audiovisual institutions recorded a temperate development and a consolidation of the already existing TV stations. Only NIT TV channel has a vir-tually national coverage, while other well-known TV stations, such as ProTV, EuroTV (recently privatised) have only a limited coverage. Th ere are a lot of private TV sta-tions with a limited geographical coverage.
Foreign TV stations from Russia, Romania or Ukraine are also present, including with own informational products. In principle, the diversity of opinions is present, but the quality of media products is unsatisfactory.
With several exceptions, the private TV sta-tions do not have enough resources to
Advancement of democracy and good governance
mote own editorial policies concerning the quality of information. Th e mentioned TV stations inform in principle on important events for the society, but the informational coverage is concise and limited in its con-tent. During the mentioned period cases of harassment of TV stations by the authorities have been reported119. During the election campaign the diversity of opinions is briefl y presented, being shaped by self-censorship and the rules rigidly enforced by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
Situation of the radio stations is not no-ticeably diff erent from that of TV stations.
Th e diversity of FM radio stations does not necessarily result in a greater accessibility, better coverage of diverse opinions or im-proved capacity to provide quality media products.
Th e private printed media is quite di-verse. Th e main political parties have their own newspapers in Romanian or Russian language. Th eir policy is strongly dependent on the political options of the parties. At the same time, there are a number of daily and weekly newspapers, such as Timpul, Jurnal de Chisinau, Ziarul de Garda, Ekonomices-koe Obozrenie and others, which manage to maintain impartiality towards the political
parties. Th ey create an area with a greater diversity of opinions. Newspapers’ price and hence their accessibility for broad groups of population represent a totally diff erent problem. Th ere were reports on pressure being exercised by rayon authoritieson the local and regional printed media120. Also, cases of intimidation of the printed national media have occurred121.
Th e freedom of peaceful assembly is a fundamental right and an institutionalised form of the freedom of expression. Th e free-dom of association is essential for a collec-tive achievement of professional, political and civic rights and interests. In principle this area witnessed a slight improvement, but compared to progress in the Central and Eastern European countries, the situ-ation in Moldova is stagnant. Th e positive trend is due to a higher degree of activism of citizens. On the eve of election campaigns, these freedoms have been restrained to a higher extent.
Limited accessibility and high costs of the freedom of expression in the media stim-ulate public expression of opinions. Lately, the number of assemblies rose considerably, partially due to the election cycles. If dur-ing 2005, 358 assemblies were organised, in 2006 their number increased to 890. A sig-nifi cant indicator is the number of assem-blies organised in the capital city. Increase in the number of assemblies is accompanied by the increase of refusals of the local public authorities to authorise such assemblies. In 2006 a slight decrease of the applications for assemblies was accompanied by an increase of refusals (Figure 25).
Statistics show that in Chisinau the pub-lic authorities off er the less requested/visible places to organise assemblies. Also, the au-thorities interfere with the aim of changing the time of assemblies, giving preference to the working hours.
Another aspect of the human rights is the freedom of association with its variet-ies of civic, political or religious associa-tion. Lately, the civic association movement recorded a spectacular increase. It is mani-fested fi rst of all in an increase of the as-sociative structures of citizens in the rural areas, where the registration procedure for associations are relatively simple. On this
119 PRO TV Chisinau, Euro TV Chisinau, Antena C.
120 “Ecoul nostru” (Sangerei), “Unghiul” (Ungheni), „Observatorul de Nord.
Editie de Floresti”, „Gagauz Halki” (Comrat), „SP” (Balti), etc.
121 „Ziarul de Garda”, „JURNAL de Chisinau”, „Moldavskie vedomosti”, „Cu-raj”, „Timpul”, destruction of the www.investigatii.md web-page.
Source: MCHR;
Figura 25 Number of applications for public assemblies and refusals to authorise them
Advancement of democracy and good governance generally positive background, a number of
alarming actions of the Prosecutor General’s Offi ce and the Ministry of Justice should be noted (see also section CIVIL SOCIETY).
In anticipation of the local elections, the Prosecutor’s Offi ce initiated a scrutiny of the local organisations with the declared goal of non-admitting their involvement in the po-litical activity. Th e extremely restrictive at-titude of the Division for non-governmental organisations and political parties under the Ministry of Justice should be noted in rela-tion to the registrarela-tion of organisarela-tions or of amendments to the founding documents. A similar trend is manifested in the area of reg-istration of political parties. Association on religious criteria is burdened, the Service for Religious Cults adopting a position to favour the Orthodox communities. Functioning of the so-called “non-traditional” communi-ties, such as Muslim or Mormon groups is under pressure from police through search-es, deportations from the country’s territory of foreigners who visit worship places.
Th e situation regarding individual free-dom and security is an issue which con-tinues to raise concerns due to numerous administrative detention proceedings and the defective court practice in applying the provisions on bail release. Conditions of de-tention in the institutions of permanent or temporary detention represent an impor-tant source of ill-treatment. Th e investiga-tion bodies continue to use force in order to obtain evidence. Administrative detention proceedings are regularly used to justify and precede detention in criminal procedure. Is-sue of the arrest warrants by the instruction judges turned into a merely formal proce-dure to legitimise the investigation bodies’
requests for preventive arrest. Th is is a sub-stantial deviation from the European prac-tice on preventive detention.
Th e information compiled by specialised non-governmental organisations and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) reveals the phenomenon of systematic use of physical and psychologi-cal force by the investigation bodies. Th e well known 7 cases of torture122 (with total social costs of 125,000 Euros) show that the main problems relate to the functioning of the institutional system of investigation, in-suffi ciency of modern police investigation
technologies, existence of an unfavourable corporate culture, excessive political pres-sure on the investigation bodies, weakness and low effi ciency of the supervision mech-anisms. Access to medical services is oft en compromised or even inexistent for persons under investigation. Scrutiny of abuse cases is ineffi cient and expensive for defendants and persons in custody. Although the phe-nomenon is systematic, during 2004-2006 only few abuse cases were penalised.
Th e detention conditions during the en-forcement of fi nal convictions and preven-tive arrest, as well as the numerous cases lost in the ECHR point out probably the biggest source of violations of the human rights in the Republic of Moldova. Th e authorities claim a shortage of funds to sustain the system. At the same time, the penal policies, through severe sentences and rather modest application of alternative penalties, maintain the high num-ber of detainees in penitentiaries.
Situation of the minorities in the Re-public of Moldova could be examined fi rst of all by scrutinising the national minorities (Ukrainians, Russians, Gagauzi, Bulgarians, Roma an others). Current policies in this area are a reminiscence of the Soviet poli-cies of Russifi cation and assimilation of mi-norities. Th e national minorities are forced to study in Russian-language pre-school institutions and schools, where the Roma-nian and native languages are study subjects which cover less than 5% of the curriculum.
As a result of these policies, the national mi-norities are assimilated, alienated from pub-lic life, burdened with additional obstacles for a real integration into the society.
Studies carried out by specialised or-ganisations and the conclusions made by the Consultative Committee of the Council of Europe’ Frame Convention for the protection of national minorities prove the will of the mentioned minorities to study in their native languages and integrate into the society.
Th e minority languages are used exten-sively in an informal way at the local level and in private life. However, they lack offi -cial acknowledgement and there are no in-centives to use them in the public life and media. Lack of coherent policies in this area,
122 Ostrovar, 2005; Becciev, 2005; Sarban, 2005; Corsacov, 2006; Ho-lomiov, 2005; Boicenco, 2005; Pruneanu, 2007.
Advancement of democracy and good governance
weak competences of the authorities (Bu-reau of Inter-ethnic Relations, Ministry of Education and Youth, Ministry of Culture) in the area of policy development and im-plementation discourage the advancement of policies consistent with the European standards in this area.
Th e situation of Roma in the Republic of Moldova, especially of those in rural ar-eas, is an important issue of concern for the institutions of the Council of Europe. Rural communities of Roma are still underdevel-oped, the access to public services (educa-tion, medicine, health, infrastructure) being totally unacceptable. Given the lack of pub-lic services, community development pro-grammes, micro-fi nancing arrangements, the underdeveloped rural Roma communi-ties have hardly any chances to develop. As a result, the migration from these communi-ties is very high and the life expectancy is much lower than the country average.
Risks
In the area of human rights, the Repub-lic of Moldova undertook a number of im-portant international commitments. Most of them arise from the European Union – Republic of Moldova Action Plan, but there are also a number of unfulfi lled obligations towards the Council of Europe. Among the unfulfi lled commitments the following can be mentioned:
recognition of individual and inter-state com-plaint procedures pursuant to articles 21 and 22 of the UN Convention against Torture, ratifi cation of the procedure on individual com-plaints pursuant to the optional protocol to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
implementation of a national mechanism for the prevention of torture pursuant to the optional protocol to the UN Convention against torture, effi cient implementation of the recommendati-ons of the European Committee for the preven-tion of torture, reform of preventive arrest insti-tutions and improvement of police capacities, creation of a favourable environment for the de-velopment of media, non-interference into the activity of media,
adoption of the Law on freedom of expression, in line with the European standards,
adoption of a new Law on freedom of assembly, in line with the European standards,
contribution to the development of civil society, enforcement of the ECHR decisions through amendment of the relevant policies,
adoption of the Law on religious cults, proper reform of the Prosecutor’s Offi ce, ensuring a real autonomy and independence of the local public authorities.
Even in those fi elds where the Republic of Moldova formally achieved some prog-ress, there are still several unsettled issues and risks. Th us, in the fi eld of audiovisual, the ability of the Council of Observers of Teleradio-Moldova to ensure the company’s autonomy and independence, as well as to temper the interference of politics into the institution’s activity will be decisive for tak-ing advantage of the favourable institutional premises. But the tendencies of political interference, polarisation of political opin-ions and lack of technical experience of the Council of Observers and of the company’s management could undermine the already achieved results. Th e Council of Observers is exposed to the risk of being infl uenced by the parliamentary majority, while the professional associations and civic organisa-tions have limited possibilities to ensure a greater stability and pluralism to the system.
Th e upcoming parliamentary elections of 2009 represent another negative factor that will stimulate the government’s will to con-trol the media.
Th e freedom of assembly is restrained by the Law on assemblies, which establishes an authorisation procedure, provides certain leverages to constrain this freedom, and does not ensure effi cient protection for assembly organisers, thus exposing them to harass-ment from police and authorities. Perpetu-ation of the existing policies could result in future condemnations by the ECHR. Th ese risks are especially eminent as the country moves closer to the elections of 2009.
Th e main risks for the freedom of reli-gious association are the preferential treat-ment as regards registration by the Service for Religious Cults and administrative pres-sure from police on the so-called
“non-tra-Advancement of democracy and good governance ditional” faiths. Th e registration procedure
is the most problematic issue, and the Re-public of Moldova was already condemned in three cases by the ECHR123. Another risk is the manifestly partisan behaviour of the authorities which support materially and fi nancially only the Archdiocese of Moldo-va, subordinated to the Russian Patriarch-ate. Th ese phenomena represent the main sources of limitation of the freedom of reli-gious association and could result in future condemnations of the Republic of Moldova by the ECHR. At the end of 2007, the social costs of such condemnations amounted to 15,000 Euros.
Th e main risks for the right of individu-al freedom and security are: the inconsistent application of provisions regarding the pre-ventive arrest, failure to respect the principle of the parity of parties at this stage and in-suffi cient scrupulousness of judges. Another important risk is the restricted access of the attorneys or representatives to the detained person. Th ose custody facilities which are still managed by the police also pose major risks to the detained persons.
Th e quality of services provided by the attorneys, in particular ex-offi cio, acces-sibility of services and insuffi cient capacity of self-organisation of the Bar Association needed in order to establish, maintain and apply ethical rules represent some more risk factors. Finally, the lack of independence and the quality of the judicial system are other risks which impede the respect of in-dividual rights. Persons placed in peniten-tiaries face a number of risk factors related to a limited access of detainees to justice, low effi ciency of the remedies against vio-lations of the right to private life and cor-respondence, ineffi cient appeals against dis-ciplinary and administrative penalties, and the quality of the enforcement conditions124. CPT and specialised non-governmental organisations attest the lack of signifi cant progress in this area.
Th e multitude and diversity of deten-tion facilities are also alarming. Currently there are more than 100 detention facili-ties, such as preventive arrest facilifacili-ties, po-lice commissariats, penitentiaries, orphan-ages, asylums, mental institutions, half-way houses and other places in which persons
stay under diff erent forms of deprivation of liberty. Th e mentioned places are run by dif-ferent authorities: Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Labour, So-cial Protection, Child and Family, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education. Th e current policies of excessive institutionali-sation of children, senior persons and other categories of people contribute towards the emergence of additional risks.
Policies
Th e institutional framework recorded a slight improvement during 2004 – 2006, particularly by the adoption of the new Au-diovisual Code. Th e regulatory institution created pursuant to the new Code, namely the Audiovisual Coordination Council (ACC), was improved through a more di-verse and balanced composition, which now includes representatives of the civil society.
However, it is still dependent on the politi-cal confi guration of the Parliament and the role of professional associations and civil society is marginal. In 2005125 several pri-vate TV stations publicly protested against abusive actions of the ACC related to the issue of authorisations. Th e ACC policy of accreditation and monitoring of the pro-gramme content did not change, and the ac-tivity conditions for private TV stations are still unfavourable. Th e 5-year license for TV stations and 3-year license for radio stations are too short to justify investments into the quality of local media products. Th us, TV stations are seen as a short-term investment, in most cases are not lucrative and depend on one or more sources of fi nancing. Dur-ing 2005-2006, the Government carried out a programme to support the local and re-gional TV stations in the amount of 300,000 MDL, distributed through the rayon coun-cils as grants for capital investments. Th e rayon councils enjoyed preferential access to these funds to set rayon TV stations.
Th e legislation which regulates activ-ity of the public television was draft ed with the contribution of the Council of Europe experts and the involvement of the civil society. However, in most instances, their
123 PPCD, 2006; Ziliberberg, 2004; The True Orthodox Church, 2007; seve-ral cases are still to be communicated.
124 Relevant cases in the ECHR: Meriakri, 2005, Iordachi, 2006.
125 TV „Euronova”, „Albasat” TV, „Radio Vocea Basarabiei”.