Final Document

of the National Brainstorming 2004

 „Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova:

Tendencies and Worries”

 

Date:   the 26th -27th of February, 2004

Place:    The Palace of the Republic, Chisinau

 

On the 26th -27th of February, 2004 Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights organized, with the support of Open Society Institute, the National Brainstorming 2004 with the thematic: „ Human Rights in the Republic of Moldova: Tendencies and Worries”.

 

The objectives of the National Brainstorming 2004 were reporting and increase the awareness by responsible persons of public authorities and by the representatives of civil society of the most acute problems from the human rights field, as well as elaboration, with their support, of some recommendations regarding the recovering of its. 

                       

The discussions during the plenary session and of four workshops carried on National Brainstorming, leaded to elaboration of “Final Document” that includes the following recommendations: 

 

            I. Regarding the „Working of democratic institutions in the Republic of Moldova”, discussed at Plenary Session, and was recommended: 

 

● to review the procedure of appointment, renaming and dismissal of the judges in Moldova, therefore the principle of independence of the judge to be assured absolutely; 

 

        ● to establish the elective procedure of the candidate-ship for the function of president and vice-president in law courts and appeal courts by the colleagues judges from the law court where is to be named the president but the Superior Council of Magistrate to name for this function presidents of law courts. The same procedure it is proposed to be followed as well at the election of the presidents and vice-presidents for the Supreme Court of Justice;

 

    ● to create the Institute of Magistrates, institution that would be skilled in initial and continue preparation of the judges. It is recommended to be included in curriculum as well object as: rhetoric, elaboration of juridical acts, human rights and jurisprudence of European Court of Human Rights;

 

       ● to increase the grade of knowledge of the judges for the stipulations of European Convention of Human Rights, the jurisprudence of European Court of Human Rights and other international acts ;

 

  • To name in each court of law a responsible person for relations with mass-media and the public; 

 

  • To improve the performance of the public access at the public trials, by assuring the display of public panel on time in law courts, of the information regarding the penal, civil and administrative trials;

 

  • To improve the performance of public access at the public trials by assuring with necessary space of the judicial halls; 

 

  • To initiate pilot projects to implement the alternative systems of justice (jury court, judicial assessors etc);

 

  • To respect and improve the social existent guarantees offered to the judge, therefore he would be protected against the pressures that lead to influence the sense of his verdicts at examining the files; 

 

●  to increase the number of the judges in each law court in order to reduce the work task, therefore the judge to have time for his professional perfection; 

 

  • To organize the activity in law courts by persons who have acquaintances in the domain of management; 

 

  • To increase the responsibility of the judges by creating and assuring well-functioning of the Department for Auto-administration of the Justice by the Superior Council of Magistrate; 

 

  • To assure the law courts with an adequate ethnic-material base and assuring the necessary means for the judges to achieve their mission; 

 

  • To involve the professional organizations created by judges for defending the rights that they offer to their state, particularly by the authorities and law courts that have the right to make decisions in this field; 

 

  •  To improve the participation of professional organizations of the judges in making decisions regarding the administration of justice, the determining of necessary means for law courts; 

 

  •  To consult the judges regarding the perfection of modification of their statute, conditions of remunerations, of auto-administrations and social protection; 

 

  • To assure the transparence of the administration of justice. 

 

II Regarding the Workshop nr. 1”Preventing Torture and other Punishments or Crude, Inhuman or Degradant Treatments” was recommended: 

 

  • To introduce in the new Penal Code the definition of torture as a separate crime   according to article 1 of ONU Convention against Torture; 

 

  • To take measures in assuring as obtained proves/confessions under the torture, should not be invoked in the Instance;   

 

  • To create an adequate legislative cadre to set up the Private Centers of Legal Medicine, that would contribute in fortifying the principle of equality of the “weapons” of the parts in the case trial; 

 

  • To institute in each Police Station an psychologist to rehabilitate psychological the police partner; 

 

  • To institute in each Insulating Preventive Imprisonment a doctor to assure the access of the detainees at medical services and free consultation;

 

  • To transfer the responsibility for the detained persons in the places of preventive detention of Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Ministry of Justice; 

 

  • To assure a prompt, impartial and complete investigation of many communications regarding the torture reported to the authorities; adequate persecuting and punishment of those guilty and giving the fair compensations to the victims; 

 

  • To initiate a plan of actions regarding the enlargement of mediation cycle of the judges, prosecutors, lawyers and other persons with juridical studies who activate in official organs and non-governmental organizations of profile, including the international ones, of law drafts elaborated in the domain of preventing and combating the torture; 

 

  • To promote continuously improving of the legislation regarding the exclusion of possibilities of application of torture in the process of penal pursuit and carrying out the justice, to plead permanently and to contribute by its own activity to identify the finance sources and material extra-budgetary ones, including of the foreign donors for founding, in concordance with the law drafts elaborated by Helsinki Committee, with the title of pilot-draft experimental: 

 

- of a local or regional House of imprisonment, under the Ministry of Justice and independent of the organs of penal pursuit; 

- of a Private Center of Legal Medicine, alternative for the similar state institution. 

 

III. Regarding the Workshop nr. 2 “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights” has been recommended: 

 

·        To the Government to take actions in performing an official translation of Final Observations of November 28th, 2003 of the Committee for Social, Economic and Cultural Rights in order to be distributed to the state organs to accomplishment; 

 

·        Monitoring the implementation by the Republic of Moldova of the Final Observations of November 28th, 2003 of the Committee for Social, Economic and Cultural Rights by the state Republic of Moldova; 

 

·        The Government to respect in its activity the settled and guaranteed rights in the International Pact on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; 

 

·        The Government to pay a special attention to the recommendations that refer on the realization of the labor right, equality of the chances, equitable remunerations etc; 

 

·        The Department of Penitentiary Institutions of the Republic of Moldova to take urgent measures in the regard of assuring the education right in the colony of re-education for minors in Lipcani city; 

 

·        The Department of Penitentiary Institutions of the Republic of Moldova to effectuate concrete actions in the regard of realizing the recommendations of Helsinki Committee in the Report of Documentation Visit on the Colony of re-education for the minors in Lipcani city; 

 

·        The Ministry of Education of the Republic of Moldova to take measures in the regard of revising the educational process for the children with deficiencies in behavior, placed in a special school (boarding school) the children with deficiencies of behavior in Solonetz village, Soroca district; 

 

·        The Government is invited and urged to intensify the collaboration between the state organs and civil society by according the possible support on implementation of social rights, social integration and of the persons with disabilities. 

 

 VI. As regards the Workshop nr. 3 “Human Rights in Transnistria”, there were recommended: 

 

·        To recognize that for everyone is alarming the situation of the state Republic of Moldova that is not capable to protect its citizens, all over its territory, from violating the human rights and degradation; 

 

·        To initiate an International Tribunal to punish the guilty persons who made suffered thousands of people of the left sight of Nistru, if not at intern level, then at least at international level; 

 

·        To recognize the fact that those 600 thousand of inhabitants of Transnistria are hostages of the separatist regime of Tiraspol; 

 

 

·        To conclude an applying to the OSCE mission in Moldova, as well as to other international organisms, to guaranteed countries in helping the state Republic of Moldova to consolidate the legislation and to extend the actions of RM Constitution on the entire territory of the Republic of Moldova, and not to promote the Constitution of the separatist state unrecognized in the world; 

 

·        To create a target group of the state and non-governmental institutions representatives of the right and left sight of Nistru river to ensure a transparency of the process in solving the trasnistrean conflict; 

 

·        To recommend to the inhabitants of the left sight of Nistru River to sue in constitutional law courts of the Republic of Moldova the illegal actions of the separatist regime, after that the requests could be addressed to the European Court of Human Rights; 

 

As regards the federalization project of the Republic of Moldova, it did not come over a single opinion, in this sense it appeared the following ideas: 

 

1.      the participants at the National Brainstorming 2004 of the right sight of Nistru sustained the idea that the federalization project will not have success because after the proposal of OSCE of federalization, the regime from Tiraspol became more rigid and actually this proposal encouraged and recognized this region by the international organizations; 

 

2.      the participants at the National Brainstorming 2004 of the left sight of Nistru sustained the idea that the regime from Tiraspol wants to provoke and will provoke actions that the state authorities to react promptly and adequately to tergiversate the conflict until the end and the power being controlled only by Igor Smirnov. 

 

 

V. As regards the Workshop nr. 4 “the Freedom of Expression and the Independence of Mass Media” was recommended: 

 

·        Assuring the free access to the public information by the public authorities and to set them available to the large public, including trough the agency of journalists; 

 

·        Excluding the censorship of any type in written or electronic press,  to stop the persecutions and harassments towards the journalists and independent press publications; 

 

·        To stop the influence of political power towards the national public institutions of audiovisual (the company Tele-radio Moldova), as well as towards the governmental publications; 

 

·        Reopening of the Antena C and Euro TV posts and to stop the political persecutions of its; 

 

·        Non-incrimination of the calumny and introduction of a reasonable ceiling as regards the damages of honor, dignity and professional reputation of a person; 

 

·        Encouraging the broadcasts of public debates with the participation of political class (power and opposition), civil society, the leaders of opinion, the experts in different fields etc

 

·        Developing the institution of the press officer of the Republic of Moldova in order to improve the collaboration between the journalists and public authorities; 

 

·        Simplification of the procedures of journalists accreditation; 

 

·        Alignment of national legislation in the field of audiovisual to the European standards;

 

·        Developing the journalism of investigation in the republic of Moldova, that would distinguish the press capacity to play its role of “watchdog of the democracy”, to watch over the functioning of the democratic game rules in our society; 

 

·        Close monitoring by the press of the activities of public local and central  authorities, especially regarding the administration of public funds and respecting the assumed engagements towards the population; 

 

·        To create a center of action, with the participation of the press institutons, non-governmental organizations of media, organizations for human rights and to start off a campaign of defending the press by: 

- Monitoring strictly the activity of audiovisual, especially the company Tele-radio Moldova;

- To point out immediately the cases of censorship and of committed abuses against the press and to let know the public; 

- To sue in law court the abusive decisions of the public authorities straightened against the press;

- To intimate the international organisms of media and human rights concerning the serious problem from the Republic of Moldova. 

 

·        The fortification of the native informational space in according as priority the licenses of emission of native posts, especially concerning the its extension at national level, in order to permit the multilateral information of the population and the its connection to the informational circuit; 

 

·        Carrying into effect the recommendations, challenges and up-proposed actions is necessary for the counteraction the tendencies of the actual power of strangling and liquidate the independent press. The absence of alternative sources of information, subjugation of public institutions of audiovisual to the political power, harassing the independent press represent totalitarian practices that erode the democracy of the Republic of Moldova, bringing prejudices to the image of the our state abroad and can definitively compromise our intentions and aspirations on European integration and democratization. 

 

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We consider that by promoting these recommendations at the level of the whole society it would contribute in determining the concrete strategies and activities of implementation them in the future by the competent state authorities and by the civil society.