Ombudsman demands convening of National Council for Human Rights, Moldovan follow violence case in village

Chisinau, 27 September /MOLDPRES/ - Ombudsman Ceslav Panico has observed ex officio in connection with a case from the Radeni village, central Straseni district, as well as other serious cases and with high impact of violence against women and girls. On 26 September, Panico sent an official request to Prime Minister Dorin Recean, thereby proposing the convening of a meeting of the National Council for Human Rights.     
Ceslav Panico says that the participants in the meeting are supposed to discuss the systemic problems as regards the cases of violence against women and girls and will hear reports on the implementation of the international recommendations and the level of implementation of the sectoral strategies and policies.   
Also, Panico asks the government to adopt an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations from the first assessment report of the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (GREVIO), submitted to the government in the autumn of the 2023 year.   
The ombudsman asks the cabinet to approve the action plan for the implementation of the GREVIO recommendations and to increase the local budget allocated for combating the gender violence. Also, the ombudsman demands the increase in the number of services available for the gender violence victims.  
The ombudsman urges the politicians and journalists, on the electoral period, to treat with responsibility and correctness the sensitive subjects concerning the situation of women victims of violence.     
Ceslav Panico stressed that the recent tragic cases of violence against women and girls, publicized on the last period, as well as the multiple non-reported cases, cannot be tolerated and cannot be left without increased attention on behalf of the public authorities, including of the national human rights protection institution, as well as of the entire community.     
„Although Moldova has made progress in the development of a system of prevention and combating of the violence against women and domestic violence, especially at the level of pubic strategies and policies and this progress is recognized internationally (through the GREVIO report from 2023), the recent cases prove that the gender violence stays a widespread phenomenon in the society. The Ombudsman finds out with worry that a high degree of tolerance to the violence against girls and women persists both among residents and among specialists with powers in the prevention and combating of this type of violence,’’ the ombudsman said.   
Also, Ceslav Panico recognizes the insufficiency of actions carried out by the Office of Ombudsman, of raising the responsibility and prompting the decision-makers to better enforce the presents standards and policies in the field of prevention of the gender violence.  
A young mother, who was bringing up two children by herself, has been recently subjected to a gang rape in the Radeni settlement, Straseni district.