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Press Release Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit Ref: 479a04 Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93 Fax :+33 3 90 21 41 34 [email protected] internet: www.coe.int/press

46 members Monitoring Committee demands from that harassment of children ceases Strasbourg, 05.10.2004 - The Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of made the following statement today: “We unreservedly condemn the conduct of the Transdnestrian administration in the Bosnia and dispute on the status of Moldovan schools teaching in that operate in the Herzegovina territory under their control. Schools in Tiraspol, Ribnita, Tighina, , Dubasari, Corjovo and Roghi were closed during the summer holidays and parents and children were refused access upon their . These methods are blatantly violating the right to education enshrined in Article 2 of Protocol N° 1 to the European Czech Convention of Human Rights and should cease immediately. Moreover, a boarding school for orphans in Tighina is still without regular access to running water, gas or electricity and during the month of August Transdniestrian militia was even preventing the delivery of the food to some eighty children staying at the boarding school at the time. This crisis is taking place against the background of an escalation in tensions between the Tiraspol administration and the Moldovan government. In recent weeks, the Moldovan Minister of Education who wished to discuss the school situation with the Ireland Transdnestrian side was arrested and deported, a journalist and several Moldovan policemen were beaten up. The Moldovan government responded by introducing a trade embargo while Tiraspol is blocking the export of electricity and railway links. The increasing number of incidents is a cause of grave concern; the Committee wishes that an immediate end be put to this situation. As to the crisis concerning the Moldovan schools, the Committee demands from Tiraspol that harassment of children, teachers and parents ceases immediately and Poland unconditionally. The conditions for normal functioning of all schools concerned, with the status and in the circumstances in which they operated in the past, must be created until such date when a solution will be reached in negotiations with the Moldovan government and the participation of the international community. and The Committee is aware of the complexity of the Transdnestrian conflict and understands that the search for a lasting solution will require a lot of effort, patience and goodwill. However, Tiraspol must understand that the international community will not tolerate an inadmissible behaviour which is depriving school children of food, electricity, running water and education in order to settle political scores with the legitimate government of the Republic of Moldova. “The former Yugoslav Republic of Some 1,500 schoolchildren have now been prevented from attending school for more Macedonia” than a month, including several hundred orphans, who virtually have nowhere to stay. This is intolerable. The Committee also calls on the Russian authorities still present on the Moldovan territory to use their influence and help to bring this crisis to an end. For more information, see http://assembly.coe.int or http://www.coe.int/PAsession

The Parliamentary Assembly brings together 630 members from the national parliaments of the 46 member states. President: Peter Schieder (Austria, SOC); Secretary General of the Assembly: Bruno Haller. Political Groups: SOC (Socialist Group); EPP/CD (Group of the European People's Party); LDR (Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group); EDG (European Democratic Group); UEL (Group of the Unified European Left).