Moldovan authorities pay insufficient attention to minorities' problems - UN report

Chisinau, 29 June /MOLDPRES/ - Moldova’s authorities pay insufficient attention to problems faced by the country’s minorities. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Rita Izsák-Ndiaye today made statements to this effect, on the basis of preliminary findings contained in a UN survey on minorities’ problems in Moldova.  

At a news conference, the official noted that there were deficiencies in the legislative framework, as well as in strategic and institutional aspects. On the other hand, the present action plans on human and minorities’ rights were adopted without a detailed programme of implementation and without a dedicated budget, which hinders the fulfillment of these tasks, the UN special rapporteur said.    

“In particular, the national minorities expressed wish to maintain and protect their rights in the field of language, as well as their ability to use their native language in the private and public life, with no discrimination. Other fields with problems would be: consumers’ rights in terms of monolingual banking contracts, access to medical assistance, including the publication of medical prospectuses only in the state language or difficulty to take competitive tests in the state language for the exams dealing with the school administration,” Rita Izsák-Ndiaye.  

At the same time, the UN representative recommended to create, at the government, a mechanism dedicated to minorities’ rights, due to be in charge of coordinating the problems of minorities in the form of a standing secretariat, which would include representatives of minority communities.  

“It would be essential to revise the school curriculum, to ensure the promotion of diversity and education about history and diverse linguistic, religious, ethnic and cultural heritages of communities, to introduce methodologies of multilingual education and create multilingual classes instead of liquidating the classes with people speaking Russian/state language. At the same time, it is necessary to enforce the laws and policies that would ensure the rights of minorities, including the action plans on backing the residents of Romany origin, strategy of inter-ethnic integration. All these should be passed according a roadmap of implementation and a proper and guaranteed budget,” the UN special rapporteur added.     

The survey was made at a request by the Moldovan government throughout Moldova on 20-29 June. The full report and the recommendations offered will be unveiled to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2017.  

Data by the National Statistics Bureau shows that about 100 ethnic minorities are recorded in Moldova, among which the most numerous ones are the Ukrainian, Russian, Bulgarian and Gagauzian.

(Reporter A. Plitoc, editor L. Alcaza)