EQUAL ACCESS FOR ALL TO POLLING STATIONS EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PRECINCT ELECTORAL BUREAUS OF POLLING STATIONS FROM CHISINAU AND BALTI MUNICIPALITIES, EDINET, HINCESTI, AND CAUSENI DISTRICTS AND FROM ATU GAGAUZIA (MAY 2019) This Publication was prepared under the “Enhancing democracy in Moldova through inclusive and transparent elections” Project, implemented by UNDP Moldova with the financial support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Embassy in Chisinau through the Good Governance Fund and by the Embassy of Netherlands through Matra Programme. The conclusions drawn up in this Study belong to authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Project or Donors. ( unofficial tra nsl a t i o n ) CHISINAU, 2019 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................. 3 BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................................. 0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 2 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN CAUSENI DISTRICT ..................................... 5 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN EDINET DISTRICT ...................................... 13 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN HINCESTI DISTRICT ................................... 19 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN BALTI MUNICIPALITY .............................. 25 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN UTA GAGAUZIA ......................................... 31 EVALUATION OF ACCESSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS IN CHISINAU MUNICIPALITY ....................... 37 SUMMARISED DATA ON SIX REGISONS ................................................................................................... 56 MAP OF ACCESSIBILITY ............................................................................................................................... 60 CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................................................................ 61 RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................................................................... 63 2 ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS CPA – Central Public Administration LPA – Local Public Administration PEBs – Precinct Electoral Bureaus NBS – National Bureau of Statistics CEC – Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova CICDE – Centre for Continuous Electoral Training CCP – Code of Construction Practice UHS – Utilities and Housing Sector MoE – Municipally-owned enterprise NGO – Non-Governmental Organisation UN – United Nations CSOs – Civil Society Organisations OSCE/ODIHR – Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights NPSIPD – National Programme for Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities for 2017 – 2022 UNDP – United Nations Development Programme EU – European Union 3 BACKGROUND To implement Article 2 of Law No 166 dated 9 July 2010 ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Law No 60 of 30 March 2012 on Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities, the Republic of Moldova adopted the National Programme for Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities for 2017 – 2022 (hereinafter referred to as the NPSIPD)by Government Decision No 723 dated 8 September 20171. According to its Authors, NPSIPD provides for a cross-sectoral approach to social inclusion of people with disabilities and indiscriminately ensures the observance of their and other people’s fundamental rights in all areas of social life. The NPSIPD comprises measures aimed to implement the expert advice referring to the enforcement of basic rights of people with disabilities in the Republic of Moldova. By ratifying the UN Convention, the Republic of Moldova made a step change in addressing disability not only in terms of social protection and health care, but also by promoting and observing human rights, social inclusion, human values and equal opportunities. Accessibility is one of the core principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, as well as a precondition for enforcing other rights in different areas of life. The NPSIPD analysis of the current status of the rights of people with disabilities reveals a range of challenges related to their effective and full engagement in the society. To respond to such challenges and increase social inclusion of people with disabilities, NPSIPD addresses the strategic lines of action at the national level through nine Specific Objectives. Two of them fall partially within the area of interest of this Study: • enhance participation of people with disabilities in political, public and cultural life (Specific Objective5); • make the infrastructure, transportation, information and communications more accessible for people with disabilities (Specific Objective 6). According to the NPSIPD, implementation of Objective 5 would result in the following outcomes: a) equal opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in elections; b) removal of barriers hindering the access of people with disabilities to political, public and cultural life; c) turnout of people with disabilities higher by at least 30%; d) higher participation of people with disabilities in cultural, sports and entertainment events, including in their organisation. According to the NPSIPD, implementation of Objective 6 would result in the following outcomes: a) removal of barriers and hence higher participation of people with disabilities in different areas of life; b) broader social inclusion of people with disabilities; c) at least 12% of public buildings made accessible by the end of Programme implementation (2% of buildings made accessible on a yearly basis); d) at least 12% of roads, street intersections and walkways made accessible by the end of Programme implementation (2% of streets/roads made accessible on a yearly basis); e) at least 30% of public transport made accessible by the end of Programme implementation (5% of public transport made accessible on a yearly basis, including by discarding the obsolete means of transport and purchasing new accessible means of transport); f) all taxi operators have at least a car adapted for wheelchair users; g) the websites of all CPAs and at least 50% of LPAs are fully accessible; h) accessibility criteria for goods, works and services are included in public procurement contracts and are complied with; i) TV channels use sign language for newscasts and shows of public interest for at least two hours a day; j) all sector-related policy documents targeting directly or indirectly people with disabilities comprise actions on accessibility, reasonable accommodation and non-discrimination to ensure access to goods, services, infrastructure, communications; 1 http://lex.justice.md/index.php?action=view&view=doc&lang=1&id=371431 k) training provided to professionals from the construction, transportation, information and communications sector to be able to deal with accessibility and universal design issues. No preliminary evaluation of accessibility has been carried out in the Republic of Moldova to determine the baseline indicators. The Study is aimed to fill this gap and define the baseline accessibility indicators for public buildings hosting 612 PEBs in order to facilitate further monitoring of NPSIPD implementation, which pursues the goal to enable access for people with disabilities. To this end, INFONET Alliance, in co-operation with its partners2, would like to achieve the following objectives: a) update the Handbook and Questionnaire to evaluate the accessibility of public buildings; b) provide training in monitoring techniques to evaluate accessibility of public buildings, including to people with disabilities; c) audit the accessibility of 564 PEBs located in Balti and Chisinau Municipalities, Edinet, Hincesti, and Causeni Districts, and in ATU Gagauzia; d) process the data collected during those audits and ensure that they can be viewed analytically on Open Data Platform (Moldova. Digital); e) send out requests to LPAs and CPAs to ensure access to public information; f) develop the Study and draw up recommendations on the implementation of Actions 5.1, 5.2, 5.4 and 6.3 during 2019-2022. Auditee District/ Locality PEBs Edinet District 51 Hincesti District 68* Causeni District 54 Balti Municipality 59 Chisinau Municipality 308 ATU Gagauzia 72** TOTAL 612*** * five PEBs were audited in February 2019 under “Request for inclusive elections, democratic progress and electoral inclusiveness of people with disabilities” Project, implemented with the financial support of the East-Europe Foundation under “Civil society advocacy for inclusive and fair elections in Moldova compliant with EU and OSCE/ODIHR recommendations and human rights commitments” Project, funded by the EU and co-funded by Sweden. ** forty-three PEBs were audited in November – December 2018 under “Audit of public building accessibility – an efficient advocacy tool to promote the rights of people with disabilities” Project, implemented with the support of Soros-Moldova Foundation and the EU. *** The general study comprises data on 612 PEBs: • 564 PEBs (audited in May 2019); • 43 PEBs located in ATU Gagauzia (audited