The year 2012 brought positive dynamics in the observance of the human rights, but there are areas that need urgent changes. The inhuman detention conditions and the discrimination against the people from rural areas, compared with those who live in urban areas, persist, human rights activists stated for Info-Prim Neo. Sergiu Ostaf, director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CReDO), said the infrastructure created in the area of human rights will produce positive results the next few years. This infrastructure refers to a very good normative framework and to the institutions that will implement the related normative documents. “It is very clear that certain progress was made in this respect. If we compare the current situation with the situation in 2009-2011, we can say that things in 2011 improved as regards the prevention of torture or the ensuring of the people’s security and safety. The situation improved because the authorities’ attitude was different. In the period, there were formulated a lot of initiatives on human rights, like those concerning the combating of torture and inhuman acts. Now the criminal prosecution can be performed only under the supervision of the prosecutor. Earlier, this thing was done by the investigation body with great discretion. The changes that occurred in 2012 will bring results in 2013 and we can speak about positive dynamics,” said Sergiu Ostaf. [Political class continues to intervene] The CReDO director also said that there are certain deviations in the process of ensuring the observance of human rights, determined mainly by the involvement of the political class. When the Broadcasting Coordination Council withdrew the license of the television channel NIT, everybody understood that the Council didn’t act appropriately and in accordance with the international standards. “The channel’s administration filed a lawsuit, but the examination of the case has been delayed for over seven months. This reveals a very clear involvement by the political class, which sends public messages that this case should be decided in favor of the alliance and to the detriment of the NIT. Unfortunately, this deviation is the current government’s blame and shows that the reforms are not 100% consolidated and will have a substantial result in 2013,” explained Sergiu Ostaf. He stated that torture no longer exists in detention places, but the problem of poor detention conditions persists. This points to inhuman treatment in prisons. The quality of the justice system leaves much to be desired. The legal system in Moldova is unpredictable. The people do not have enough confidence in justice. [People living on left side of the Nistru are discriminated] The head of the NGO Promo-Lex Ion Manole said that certain progress in ensuring the respect for the human rights was made on the right side of the Nistru in 2012. This cannot be yet said about the Transnistrian region. “There is yet a lot of work to be done in this respect on the left side of the Nistru as the population there continues to be discriminated, and does not have access to the national services, procedures and instruments. The justice reform started on the right side and we hope the cases of torture and ill-treatment will decrease in number in time,” he stated. Ion Manole considers that the situation can be changed if civil society and all the bodies responsible for their areas strictly monitor things. If there are education-related problems, the Ministry of Education must know absolutely all the problems, not only the problem of the schools teaching based on the Latin script. When the Moldovan authorities know all the problems existing in Transnistria, they will be able to take steps to deal with certain situations. “We will insistently remind the constitutional authorities about the positive and mortal obligations. If you don’t know them, you cannot solve them. They argue they don’t have control over the region and the administration there does not cooperate with them. Even if they don’t cooperate, the constitutional authorities must intervene with constitutional instruments, based first of all on the international rights,” said the head of Promo-Lex. [Poverty in villages infringes the right to decent living] The director of the Center for Human Rights Anatolie Munteanu said that a lot of work is yet to be done in the area of welfare provision. “Poverty is a social phenomenon that hinders the exercise of the constitutional right to decent living. There is a great difference between the situation in rural areas and the situation in urban areas. We speak especially about infrastructure. I think that effort must be made to change the situation in villages. We can say that the villagers are discriminated compared with the townspeople, especially as regards access to such key cultural elements as the theater and cinema,” he stated. Even if they say that considerable financial resources are allocated for those from rural areas, Anatolie Munteanu considers that the changes are late due to the inefficient management and the incorrect distribution of social welfare. “We can have nice opinions and say that we have successes, but the reaction of the ordinary people shows that life is more and more difficult,” he said. According to him, there is yet a positive dynamic as the Moldovans are more combative and know better where they should go when their rights are violated. [Alina Marin, Info-Prim Neo]