It is 25 years since Moldova became a party to the main international human rights treaties, but the country still faces enough problems related to the guaranteeing of the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms, people’s ombudsman Mihail Cotorobai says in a message quoted by IPN. Though the authorities took concrete steps to adjust the national legislation to the international standards, the reforms become efficient only when efficient mechanisms to put them into practice are instituted, IPN reports.

The ombudsman says that the country now faces serious problems related to the guaranteeing of the social and economic rights. In the wake of the rises in prices of consumer goods and tariffs on the main public utilities, the competent public authorities fail to honor their obligation to guarantee decent living conditions, which would ensure health and welfare, to everyone.

Mihail Cotorobai warns that the latest rises in the electricity and natural gas tariffs, which will be followed by new increases in the prices of other services and goods, will have dramatic consequences not only for the socially deprived groups, but also for other categories of people.

According to the ombudsman, corruption remains a major obstacle to ensuring the respect for the human rights because it hinders economic growth and discourages foreign investment. Corruption reached catastrophic proportions in Moldova and directly affects human rights by undermining the democratic institutions and the independence of justice.

On July 28, it is 25 years of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and of the ratification of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights by Moldova.