End-of-mission statement of the UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues on the official visit to the Republic of Moldova, 20-29 June 2016

Russian | Romanian

In my capacity as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on minority issues, I conducted an official visit to the Republic of Moldova between 20-29 June, 2016, at the invitation of the Government. I visited Chisinau and various regions and localities with minority populations, including the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, Balti, Edinet, Hincauti, Orhei, Otaci, Schinoasa, Soroca, and Taraclia, as well as the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova. I had the opportunity to consult widely with hundreds of stakeholders during my visit, including ministers and senior government officials of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Education, Justice, Labour and Social Protection, and Culture, the Deputy Bashkan of Gagauzia and the de facto authorities of the Transnistrian Region of the Republic of Moldova. I met with the Bureau of Interethnic Relations, the Equality Council, People’s Advocate Office, General Prosecutors Office, National Bureau of Statistics, and the Constitutional Court. I consulted with representatives of civil society and minority communities, religious leaders, political actors, members of the diplomatic community, representatives of United Nations bodies and other national and international actors. I would like to thank the Government of the Republic of Moldova and all of those who consulted with me and provided me with information.

I met with representatives of various ethnic communities including those who identify as Armenians, Azeris, Belarussians, Bulgarians, Gagauz, Germans, Georgians, Turkish, Poles, Roma, Romanians, Russians and Ukrainians. I consulted with members and representatives from religious communities, including Adventists, Baptists, Catholics, Jews, members of the Bessarabian Metropolitan Church, Falun Dafa and Unification Church. I consulted relatively new communities such as Afro-Descendants and Muslims. I also met with many who clearly identify as Moldovan majority and the Moldovan Orthodox Church leaders to seek their views.

Individual identities of persons belonging to minorities in the Republic of Moldova are often complex and dynamic. Many minority persons have multiple identities also due to mixed marriages. Minority identities are often multilayered when ethnic minorities belong to another linguistic minority group. The legislative and policy framework should allow for the recognition of such multidimensional diversity inherent in the Republic of Moldova and should inform the formulation of integration policies.

Last year has been marked by heightened tensions as political and financial instability together with a deepening divide along ethnic, linguistic and other communal lines was further exacerbated by geopolitical sentiments. Although the creation of a new Government at the beginning of this year brought some stability, it will be essential to continue the process of consulting with all population groups and ensure their participation in decision-making processes in order to foster national unity and ensure sense of ownership and belonging of all national, ethnic, religious and linguistic communities. Steps must be taken to minimize the politicization of the use of languages which often leads to polarization and might threaten peaceful coexistence if not resolved.

Worsening economic conditions and corruption scandals led to grievances and a general distrust in politicians and political structures. It is essential to consider the economic dimension of the current situation and for the Government to implement measures to guarantee equality, social, economic and cultural rights and combat corruption and mismanagement of resources, as a means to increase trust in political leadership.

The overwhelming majority of minority representatives whom I consulted at the local level described peaceful inter-ethnic and inter-faith relations and an environment that is generally conducive to the protection of their rights. Violence, intimidation or aggression on the basis of national, ethnic, linguistic or religious belonging are rare. I have been informed about regular occasions of festivals, celebrations, and dedicated days organized to appreciate the culture, language, literature or dance of the various ethnic communities.

The Republic of Moldova has always been a multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural society and this diversity should be valued as an important asset and strength of the country. Unity in diversity should be promoted in school textbooks, especially in history teaching, through mass media programs and by ensuring the participation of all communities in decision-making processes.

The future of the Republic of Moldova must be shaped and defined based on values and principles such as respect for human rights, good and inclusive governance and minority rights protection and not by geopolitical labels.

Communication channels have to remain open and there is a need for continuous trust-building between the central administration and minority territories and communities. I was pleased to learn that a working group consisting of members of the Moldovan Parliament and the Gagauzian Peoples’ Assembly has been established and is currently functioning to discuss matters of common concerns.

LEGISLATIVE, POLICY AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAWEWORK

Many of the minority representatives I consulted emphasized frustration over how currently the term ‘integration’ is used, which they feel suggest a one-way assimilation process instead of the agreement of a set of mutual and reciprocal efforts from all communities to achieve equality of all in rights and opportunities, to foster an inclusive sense of belonging and to ensure effective participation by all members of a diverse society in all areas of life. Policies and legislation, therefore, must be designed, implemented and monitored with the full and meaningful participation of minorities and this can ensure their ownership and demonstrate shared responsibilities.

Appropriate policy-planning is extremely difficult if not impossible in the absence of disaggregated data which informs the society about the current composition of its population. I welcome that the National Bureau of Statistics will publish the results of the last census that took place in 2014 in March 2017 with a possibility to disaggregated data on various grounds. Such an analysis can highlight the vulnerability of the different population groups and enable legislators and policy-makers to establish targeted programs for them based on their minority status, socio-economic indicators, gender and other characteristics.

The Republic of Moldova has adopted a number of laws, strategies, action plans and policies to protect and promote integration of ethno-linguistic groups. The ‘Law on Functioning of Languages’ has been regulating language use since 1989. The ‘Law with Regard to the Rights of Persons belonging to National Minorities and Legal Status of their Organizations’ from 2001 sets a basic framework for minority rights protection. Many consider the Bureau of Interethnic Relations, first established in 1991, as the central body of coordination of minority policies. The Bureau needs considerable strengthening and capacity-building in order to fulfil its important role in developing the state policy concerning interethnic relations and monitor the overall situation of minorities.

The ‘Law on Ensuring Equality’, in force since 1 January 2013, was adopted to prevent and fight against discrimination and ensure equal rights in political, economic, social, cultural, and other aspects of life. A Council on Prevention and Combating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality was created to ensure the implementation of this comprehensive non-discrimination law. The Equality Council plays an instrumental role in protecting the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Nevertheless, its representatives noted that the body has not been granted the power to carry out some specific functions that would be necessary to fully perform their duties, including effective sanctioning powers, possibility of conducting investigation of cases in the field and ability to address cases to the Constitutional Court. I note, however, that regrettably the majority of appealed decisions of the Equality Council were filed by public institutions.

A new framework strategy on inter-ethnic integration is about to be adopted. It is important to make sure that it fully complies with the 1992 UN Declaration of the Persons Belonging to National, Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities.

Despite the above positive initiatives, there are gaps in the legislative, policy and institutional framework regarding the protection of minorities. Many of the existing human rights and minority rights policies, strategies and action plans have been adopted without a detailed implementation plan and without a dedicated budget which hampers their actual realization. Moreover, considering the great diversity of population groups in the Republic of Moldova, the institutional attention to minority issues is currently insufficient.

A key pillar of minority rights is full and equal participation in public life, including political participation at national, regional and local levels. Policies and programs to guarantee the representation of minorities in the Parliament can include such measures as reserved seats or the re-drawing of electoral districts to allow compact minority communities to elect their own representatives, and these should be considered. While there is now an increasing number of civil society organizations in the Republic of Moldova, I believe that further strengthening of non-governmental bodies is needed so that citizens, including all minorities, can jointly formulate and convey important messages and dialogue with various authorities. I was pleased to hear that during the latest elections two Romani women were elected to municipality councils. National curriculum should include education on active citizenship.

I would like to express my deep concern about the current legislative initiatives on abrogation of the Equality Law and on introduction of administrative fines for “propaganda of homosexuality”. I am further alarmed that the latter initiative was endorsed by the Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and Interethnic Relations. Should the Equality Law be regressively amended or fully abrogated, it will constitute a serious human rights violation in itself. 

LANGUAGE RIGHTS AND LANGUAGE USE IN NAMES, EDUCATION, PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION, ACCESS TO JUSTICE AND HEALTH CARE

Language issues, especially in the context of education, featured prominently in the consultations that I held. It is very evident that the use of mother tongue is highly important and emotive for many communities and an essential aspect of personal and community identity. National minorities clearly expressed their desire to maintain and protect their language rights and their ability to use their mother tongue and the Russian language freely in private and public without discrimination.

Concerns were mainly expressed in the context of school “optimization” process and over the closure of minority language classes across the country. I believe that a long-term solution for the future will be the introduction of bilingual and multilingual classes where children are being taught by both their mother tongue (a language of their choice in which they are most knowledgeable) and the State language (Moldovan/Romanian). I welcome the first pilot projects of bilingual education in Gagauzia.

Other linguistic issues that featured strongly during my visit included the possibility to use Russian language when addressing public administration. Many interlocutors complained of instances in which their written submissions in Russian language, including court complaints, were not responded or got directly rejected.

As a result of some amendments to the Law on the Identity Documents and the National Passport Systems, I was informed that the current system for registration of names and surnames is permitted in State language and in Latin script only, therefore impacting on some minority languages. Russian speaking minority members stated that there is no longer the possibility for individuals to insert their patronymic name in their identity card.

Other problematic areas were mentioned related to: consumer rights, such as mono-lingual bank contracts; access to health care, including medicine leaflet in State language only; or the difficulty of taking competitive tests in the State language for school administration exams.

RELIGIOUS MINORITIES

The Republic of Moldova has a wide range of religion and belief groups and it is evident that religious freedoms and the rights of religious minorities are generally protected. Concerns were expressed, however, about the dominance of the Orthodox Church and their influence in determining societal morals and values. Acts of vandalism in Jewish cemeteries, instances of robberies in synagogues and anti-Semitic graffiti were reported by representatives of the Jewish community. Unfortunately, not all perpetrators of these crimes have been arrested and prosecuted.

Some minority representatives regretted that the process to register a religious organization in the country continues to be lengthy and burdensome. They highlighted the persistence of discriminatory provisions against non-citizens in the Law on Religious Denominations, as a minimum of 100 signatories by citizens of the Republic of Moldova are needed to proceed to register a religious organization. Representatives of the Muslim community reported incidents of racial profiling by immigration officers and police. Additional issues, such as religious property restitution, use of religious symbols and the situation of certain faith groups in the Transnistrian region, were cause of concern in the report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and I call the Government to implement his recommendations.

ROMA

In order to improve the situation of Roma, a National Action Plan on Roma 2011-2015 was established. However, many stakeholders with whom I consulted stated that the decentralization reform, which placed the responsibility of implementing a large number of measures in the hands of local administrations together with the lack of sufficient funding, among other factors, had resulted in the Action Plan being poorly implemented. In fact, the Bureau of Interethnic Relations found that only 37% of its provisions have actually been implemented.

One of the key measures of the prior Action Plan was the establishment of a network of Roma community mediators in targeted communities tasked with facilitating the dialogue and building bridges between Roma communities and the local authorities.
Unfortunately, instead of the envisaged 48 mediators, only about 10 are currently being employed.

Economic, social and political marginalization of Roma, as well as instances of discrimination and xenophobia against Roma communities were reported by Roma representatives. Drop-out rates among Roma students are significantly high, identity documents are often missing and Roma representatives expressed their concern that Roma are largely absent from decision-making processes and in public life, both at national and local levels.

TRANSNISTRIAN REGION OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

I travelled to the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova, where I met with the de facto authorities and with a number of representatives from civil society organizations. Moldovan, Russian and Ukrainian are official languages but Russian is the dominant one in the public sphere. Some interlocutors pointed out that although the official documents have their heading in the three official languages, the information is conveyed primarily in Russian.

With respect to education, I was made aware that the majority of schools are Russian-speaking, although some also deliver Ukrainian cultural content. There are also Moldovan/Romanian language Cyrillic-script schools. The de facto authorities indicated to me that a number of issues still remain with respect to Latin-script schools. I call the de facto authorities to redouble efforts to fully implement the recommendations presented by UN Senior Expert Thomas Hammarberg, including those related to my mandate.

SELECTED KEY RECOMMENDATIONS

Consider the establishment of a dedicated minority rights mechanism in the Government in charge of coordinating minority issues, in a form of a permanent secretariat, with the inclusion of representatives of minority communities. 

Review the school curriculum to make sure that it promotes diversity and educates about the history and different linguistic, religious, ethnic and cultural heritage of various communities.

Introduce multilingual education methodologies and create multilingual classrooms instead of closing down Russian/State language-speaking classes.

Increase and strengthen the broadcasting in minority languages.


Laws and policies ensuring the rights of minorities, including the Roma Action Plan and the inter-ethnic integration strategy have to be adopted with an implementation roadmap and adequate and secured budget.

Measures must be taken to ensure that children and adults have opportunities to learn the State language in a quality manner.

Recognizing the essential role played by the Roma community mediators in building bridges between authorities and Roma people and their concrete achievements in advancing the rights of Roma, measures should be taken to fill all vacant positions and provide for their salaries from central budget.

Ensure the implementation of the recommendations regarding religious minorities of the recommendations of the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.

I am looking forward to continuing my collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Moldova and civil society actors. I stress that the observations that I provided today are only my preliminary findings and will be further informed by additional research and consultation with the Government and other relevant stakeholders. My full report and recommendations will be presented to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2017.

I once again take this opportunity to thank the Government, the United Nations Country Team, in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova and its National Coordinator, and all of those who took time to meet with me and provided information and assistance.