Moldova's National Council for Human Rights considers achievements, degree of aligning with international standards

Chisinau, 26 March /MOLDPRES/ - Acting Prime Minister Aureliu Ciocoi today chaired the first meeting of the National Council for Human Rights from this year, the government’s communication and protocol department has reported.

The participants in the meeting presented the progress report on the implementation of the national action plan in the human rights sector for 2018-2022, as well as the national report in the context of the third cycle of Universal Periodical Evaluation (EPU) of the human rights’ observance.  

The national EPU report, which Moldova is to submit to the United Nations Human Rights Council in next October, represents the most comprehensive and extensive exercise of assessing the degree of observance of the recognized international standards in terms of fundamental rights and freedoms.  

The document shows the achievements and measures enforced in Moldova on the period 2017-2020, to meet the recommendations issued after the cycle II of evaluation, carried out in 2016-2017. The State Chancellery, with the support of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Moldova, provided an extended exercise of consulting this report, in order to give final touches in a participatory way, to identify the areas of focusing and the priorities for the subsequent interventions.   

The participants in the meeting also unveiled the efforts made in the context of adjusting the national framework to the international standards in the field of incrimination of the offences committed for reasons of hatred and prejudice, as well as the steps necessary for promoting the adoption of these changes.  

In the end of the meeting, the acting PM highlighted the need to consolidate the efforts and ensure a good cooperation, including with the national human protection institutions and the civil society, in order to ensure a strengthened coordination of the policy and measures undertaken to this end.

„I am grateful for the titanic work made so far. I urge the colleagues from ministries, agents as well as the civil society to continue working, including on the parliamentary platform. I know that, on this period of pandemic, the situation is much more complicated, including as regards the observance of the human rights and freedoms. Yet, excepting the present circumstances, the things must be carried out properly and our duty to report the plan’s implementation stage to international institutions must be fulfilled,’’ Aureliu Ciocoi added.    

photo: Government