National Council for Combating Discrimination to be constituted by 2013

The creation of the National Council for Combating Discrimination will be one of the first steps that will be taken after the adoption of the Law on Guaranteeing of Equality. The law will take effect on January 1, 2013 and the Council is to be created by then. It will establish acts of discrimination, while the penalties will be imposed by court decisions, Info-Prim Neo reports. In a meeting of the Investigative Journalists Club on May 31, Lilia Rusu, senior consultant at the Ministry of Justice, said a number of national legal documents are to refined before the coming into force of this law. The Code of Administrative Offenses and the Penal Code will be supplemented with penalties for the discrimination of persons. The legislation will enable the victims of discrimination to seek damages. The legislative body will adopt the regulations that will govern the work of the National Council for Combating Discrimination. The Law on Remuneration will also be adjusted as the Council will have its own budget for its members. Some of the experts question the efficiency of the future Council. According to Sergiu Ostaf, executive director of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CreDO), this Council’s task of defending the victims in court only diminishes its role. He considers the discriminated persons will have to wait for the court’s decision for many years and the examination of the cases will be delayed. The representatives of civil society believe that the changes made to the law on the last 100 meters affected the quality of the implementation mechanism.