Moldovan authorities to actively participate in political, social dialogue to improve human rights situation in Transnistrian region

Chisinau, 27 April /MOLDPRES/ - Deputy Prime Minister Gheorghe Balan today participated in a roundtable on the unveiling of two topic-related reports on human rights in Moldova, including the Transnistrian region (retrospective of the 2016 year), titled, Right to Person’s Freedom and Safety and Right Not to be Subjected to Torture and Ill Treatments, the Reintegration Policies Bureau has reported.    

In his speech, the deputy prime minister referred to the issue of human rights in the Transnistrian region, role of state’s institutions and importance of cooperation with the civil society and development partners on this dimension.  

Gheorghe Balan said that the government was set to implement instruments regarding concrete actions and responsibilities, meant to settle topical problems of the residents from both banks of Dniester.  

“The subject of human rights is tackled within all the present platforms of dialogue. We need joint efforts to enhance opportunities of involvement and participation of all the actors involved in the Transnistrian settlement process,” Gheorghe Balan said.

The deputy prime minister positively appreciated the competent NGOs’ support and the efficient collaboration with the authorities, which contributed to strengthening the institutional capacities in the sector. At the same time, Gheorghe Balan noted that the improvement of the population’s situation in these terms was essential. He stressed that the reintegration policies bureau, during years, had received more addressings on behalf of international organizations, in which they expressed concern about challenges faced by the defenders of human rights in the Transnistrian region, as a result of the unilateral actions by Tiraspol law-enforcement structures: opening new artificial files; groundless persecution of representatives of the associative sector; denying access to settlements from the left bank of Dniester; inclusion in the list of undesirable persons; creating diverse obstacles which limit the providing of services of legal counseling to residents, etc.     

“The reintegration process cannot be carried out successfully without the observance of human rights. Regretfully, at present, the human rights and fundamental freedoms in the Transnistrian region shows significant deficiencies and numerous problems. Therefore, it is necessary to create new instruments to fight infringements and the non-observance of rights,” the deputy prime minister said.   

Referring to the reports presented at the roundtable, Gheorghe Balan said that the recommendations formulated would be taken into account and efforts would be made to protect the human rights and improve the national legislative framework in line with the international law norms and EU standards. At the same time, the deputy prime minister assured that the authorities would actively participate in the political and social dialogue to improve the human rights situation in Moldova, including the Transnistrian region.  

The reports present a retrospective of the 2016 year and are meant for the constitutional authorities, international organizations and institutions, as well as civil society organizations concerned about the issue of human rights in Moldova, including the Transnistrian region.

The event was organized within the project, Strengthening Observance of Human Rights in Transnistrian Region of Moldova, implemented by the Promo-LEX association, with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy.