CHISINAU 2006 REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MOLDOVA This publication “A Report on Human Rights Violations in Moldova: 2005 retrospective” was elaborated by Promo-Lex Association experts: Ion Manole 2.5. Right to education 2.7. Electoral rights 2.12. Rights of national minorities 2.13. Rights of sexual minorities Chapter 3 Violation of the human rights in the eastern part of Moldova (Transnistria) Alexandru Postica 2.2. Right to property 2.3. Right to information, free- dom of opinion and freedom of expresion 2.4. Freedom of assembly and association and freedom of reli- gion 2.9. Rights of women Chapter 4 Cases brought against the Re- public of Moldova before the European Court of Human Rights, Decisions adopted in 2005 Sergiu Gogu 2.6. Right to labour and social protection 2.8. Rights of the child Pavel Postica 2.1. Right to life, liberty and personal security 2.10. Rights of detainees 2.11. Rights of migrants and refu- We would like to thank the following persons who gees contributed to this report: Irina Rata, Olga Pilipciuc-Manole, Nicoleta Hriplivii Adrian Diordita, Iulia Lungu, Natalia Vavulea, Oleg Cristal Ion Madiudin PROMO-LEX ASSOCIatION For correspondence: Chisinau MD – 2012, P.O.BOX 89 Promo-Lex Association Tel./Fax: (0-22) 450024; Mobil: 069177101, 069104851 E-mail: [email protected]; WEB: www.promolex.ong.md This publication was financially supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy. The Royal Norwegian Embassy is not responsible for any The Report is only for free opinions reflected in this publication. distribution 2005 RETROSPECTIVE 2005 RETROSPECTIVE CONTENTS paGE INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................5 1. GENERAL CONSIDERATION.............................................................................................................6 2. HUMAN rIGHTS PROTECTION IN THE rEPUBLIC OF mOLDOVA................................................7 2.1. Right to life, liberty and personal security 7 2.1.1. Right to life 7 2.1.2. Prohibition of torture, inhuman and degrading treatment 8 2.1.3. Violations and derogations as regards prohibition of forced or compulsory labour 10 2.1.4. Violations and derogations as regards right to liberty and security 11 2.1.5. Violations and derogations as regards the right to leave and return, in particular freedom of movement 12 2.2. Right to property 13 2.2.1. Violation of the right to property in the security zone of the Republic of Moldova, by banning people access to their own agricultural portions of land 13 a. Banning the access to agricultural portions of land, land constituting public property, buildings and other agricultural constructions 14 b. Sequestering of agricultural machines and goods at the borders posts 15 2.2.2. Violation of the right to property of the political repressions victims, problems related to the returning of the properties belonging to the Metropolitan Bessarabian Church by the soviet authorities 16 2.2.3. Wrongful use of legislation on the expropriation on public utility grounds 18 2.2.4. Non-execution of the courts decisions on the closing down of the national budget, problems related to indexation of economy savings 19 2.2.4.1. Non-execution of courts decisions on the closing down of the national budget 19 2.2.4.2. Problems related to the indexation of economy savings 20 2.2.5. Other problems related to the protection of the right to property. 20 2.3. Right to information, freedom of opinion and freedom of expresion 22 2.3.1. Right to information 22 2.3.2. Principles of the right to information held by public officials 22 2.3.3. Access of the Media to information 22 2.3.4. Judiciary procedures related to the access to information 24 2.3.5. Access to the decision taking process 25 2.3.6. Freedom of opinion and freedom of expression 25 2.4. Freedom of assembly and association and freedom of religion 27 2.4.1. Freedom of assembly and association 27 2.4.2. Freedom of religion 28 2.5. Right to education 30 2.5.1. Problem of the educational staff 31 2.5.2. Technical and material conditions of the educational institutions and their supply with didactic material 32 2.6. Right to labour and social protection 35 2.6.1. Right to a decent living 35 2.6.2. Right to protection against unemployment 35 2.6.3. Right to labour protection 36 2.6.4. Right to social protection 37 2.6.5. Situation of disabled people 37 2.7. Electoral rights 39 2.7.1. Universality of suffrage and right to take part in elections 39 2.7.2. Authorities behaviour during electoral campaigns 40 a. Behaviour of local public authorities 40 b. Behaviour of central public authorities 41 c. Involvement of law enforcement agencies and other state bodies 42 2.7.3. Competences and behaviour of electoral officials 43 2.7.4. Behaviour of electoral candidates 44 2.7.5. Informing the voters 44 2.7.6. Observing and monitoring elections 46 2.7.7. Conclusions 47 2.7.8. Recommendations 48 2.8. Rights of the child 49 2.8.1. Right to family 49 2.8.2. Right of the child to education and information 50 2.8.3. Right to be protected against violence, ill-treatment and any type of abuses 51 REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MOLDOVA REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN MOLDOVA CONTENTS papagGE 2.8.4. Right to medical and social assistance 51 2.8.5. Aspects of juvenile delinquency 52 2.9. Rights of women 53 2.10. Rights of detainees 56 2.10.1. Material situation in the penitentiary system 56 2.10.2. Personal hygiene 57 2.10.3. Nutrition 57 2.10.4. Medical assistance 57 2.10.5. Connection with the outside world 58 2.10.6. Detainees informing 58 2.10.7. Re-education, schooling and improving the cultural level of detainees 59 2.11. Rights of migrants and refugees 60 2.12. Rights of national minorities 62 2.12.1. Linguistic issue 62 2.12.2. Justice and public administration 64 2.12.3. Minority groups 65 a. Gagauz minority 65 b. Ukrainian minority 66 c. Russian minority 66 d. Roma minority 67 2.13. Rights of sexual minorities 68 3. VIOLATION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE EASTERN PART OF mOLDOVA (TRANSNISTRIA) ............................................................................................69 3.1. General consideration 69 3.1.1. Russian support and influence over the eastern part of the Republic of Moldova 71 3.1.2. Role of the peacekeeping forces 72 3.1.3. Production and commercialisation of weapons (munitions) 73 3.1.4. Human rights protection in the security zone 74 3.1.5. Actions taken against the law enforcement agencies 77 3.1.6. Border monitoring 77 3.1.7. Rights of internally displaced people from the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova 77 3.2. Human rights situation 79 3.2.1. Legal-normative framework of the Republic of Moldova on the Transnistrian region. 79 3.2.2. Right to life, physical and moral integrity 79 3.2.3. Right to information, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression 80 3.2.4. Right to education 81 3.2.5. Right to property 83 3.2.6. Electoral rights 84 3.2.7. Freedom of association 85 3.2.8. Right to labour and social protection 86 3.2.9. Freedom of thought, conscience and freedom of religion 87 3.2.10. Right to health protection 88 3.2.11. Rights of national minorities 88 3.2.12. Rights of women and children 89 3.2.13. Rights of the military 89 3.2.14. Rights of detainees 90 3.2.15. Rights to free movement 91 3.2.16. Right to fair trial 93 3.3. Conclusions 93 3.4. Recommendations 94 4. CASES BROUGHT AGAINST THE rEPUBLIC OF mOLDOVA BEFORE THE EUROPEAN cOURT OF HUMAN rIGHTS, dECISIONS ADOPTED IN 2005 ..................................97 5. CONCLUSIONS ..................................................................................................................................101 2005 RETROSPECTIVE 2005 RETROSPECTIVE INTRODUCTION Promo-Lex Association is a non-governmental not-for profit and apolitical organisation, following the public benefit and develops its activity on the whole territory of the Republic of Moldova. Promo-Lex Association was founded on 19 July 2002 being registered at the Moldovan Ministry of Justice. Promo-Lex mission is contributing to the democratisation process of the Republic of Moldova through promoting and defending human rights and fostering the civil society. One of the main fields is the de- velopment, editing and distributing national reports on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Being aware of the fact that such an activity requires an enormous work, special skills and obviously, much experience in the field, Promo-Lex Association launched the initiative of developing a 2005 annual report on human rights protection in Moldova. The fact that the Royal Norwegian Embassy accepted to finance such a young organisation like Promo-Lex proves that the organisation is trustworthy and credible. On the other hand, this financing implies doubled responsibility from behalf of the organisation and of the authors of the report, in particular. Thus, we tried to justify the credited trust by collecting an enormous volume of materials, based on real cases and stories, examined and even solved by promo-Lex during 2005. During the last years, various state and non-governmental structures have had elaborated and published several human rights reports, but one cannot speak of a sample-model of such documents. Thus, the structure proposed for the present report has been approved by the authors, taking into account the great volume of information. While drafting the report we took into account the multiperspectivity of the problems and consulted various organisations and persons in charge with the given problems.