The draft national report on the Universal Periodic Review of human rights, which is to be examined by the Government this autumn, must be supplemented. In a public consultation on the document, representatives of civil society said the draft report must contain detailed information about the mass media, their fight against torture and the events of April 7, 2009, IPN reports.
Ion Mazur, head of the Advocacy Department of the Association of Independent Press, said the draft report covers only 15-20% of the content of the government program. The authors devoted more than half of the chapter centering on the mass media to the accomplishments in the field of national minorities, but there are also other important problems.
“You say that 70-80% of the foreign TV channels penetrate Moldova, but say nothing about the propaganda and manipulation of other states on Moldova’s territory. This is very serious. The Broadcasting Code was now adopted in the first reading, but the report says only that a Code’s article about the reduction in the number of licenses was amended. So, there are many shortcomings,” stated Ion Mazur.
The representative of “Promo-LEX” Association Dumitru Slusarenco said the draft report does not cover the phenomenon of torture in psychiatric institutions, even if each report focusing on these institutions warns that the people there are subject to ill-treatment. “I think it would be opportune to include data about this aspect as the method of investigating offenses or ill-treatment in psychiatric institutions is a very serious problem that should be dealt with, as is the lack of an efficient mechanism of complaints,” he stated.
Ion Guzun, of the Legal Resources Center, said the report should note that some of the prosecutors and lawyers involved in the April 7, 2009 events were promoted and that the law enforcement agencies didn’t conduct an effective investigation into the involvement of high-ranking officials in those events. “I think a number of recommendations about the April 7, 2009 events weren’t met,” he said.
Moldova’s national report on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of human rights contains information about 14 areas, including the legal framework, human rights policies, international obligations, nondiscrimination, national minorities and the right to education. It is to be examined in the 26th session of the UPR Working Group in Geneva during October 31 – November 11 this year. Moldova’s first such report was analyzed in the 19th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2011, when the delegations of the UN member states formulated 122 relevant recommendations for Moldova.
