Moldovan parliament's website Russian version becomes available

Chisinau, 01 September /MOLDPRES/ – The Russian language version of the website of Parliament has became available, ensuring access to info for national minorities and eliminating inequalities with respect to certain groups of citizens of Moldova. The project is part of the inclusive policy promoted by the leadership of Parliament to ensure equal opportunities for all inhabitants of Moldova, the parliament’s communication and public relations department has reported.

According to Speaker of Parliament, Zinaida Greceanii, the limited access to info maintains the existing inequalities, perpetuating obstacles in effective realisation of human rights from different domains of life.

The translation of the website into Russian language involved zero expenditure for public budget. Also, the impact on the degree of info and access to info increased with the launch of Russian version of site, given that, according to census of 2014, almost 400,000 citizens of Moldova declared that their spoken language is usually Russian.

It is worth reminding, that in 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, Rita Izsák – Ndiaye, called on the authorities to provide minority language versions for official websites. Similarly, by decision of 2018, the Council for prevention and elimination of discrimination and ensuring equality qualified as discrimination on the basis of language the lack of the Russian version of the website of Parliament. The Council recommended then ensuring the accessibility of info on the official website for Russian speakers.

Throughout launching the Russian version of website, the legislature has complied with the law on the rights of persons belonging to national minorities which stipulate that public authorities are obliged to ensure access of all citizens to official info of public interest.