OSCE enhances capacity of Moldovan agencies promoting and protecting rights of national minorities amid pandemic

Recognizing that human rights will be key to building back sustainable and equal societies in the post-pandemic recovery, the OSCE Mission to Moldova organized online webinars on human rights in times of COVID-19 for a coalition of public agencies, which promote and protect rights of national minorities in Moldova, from 27 to 30 July 2020.

"In times of public emergency like the coronavirus pandemic, it is all the more important that human rights are scrupulously respected and actively protected - for everyone without discrimination.  Human rights are not some 'extra', but are central to individual and collective health and well-being," said Professor Frederick John Packer, Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa, who led the webinars.

The four online sessions focused on the impact of the pandemic and ways to strengthen the protection of human rights, including the right to health, right to information, women’s rights as well as the right to equality and non-discrimination. During the discussions, the participants underlined that responses to the pandemic should be inclusive because a society is only as strong as its most vulnerable members, including elderly people, persons with disabilities, homeless, migrants and ethnic or national minorities. Therefore, groups that are most at risk or disproportionately affected require special measures and protection.

“In the current difficult times, we, as public officials from the human rights institutions, need to be well prepared to make use of international human rights standards and make recommendations to the state authorities, so that no one is left behind,” said Rodica Jereghi from the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality (Equality Council).

More than 30 representatives of the Agency for Interethnic Relations, the Ombudsperson’s office, and the Equality Council participated in the webinars. Over the past two years, the Mission has been working with these three agencies to improve their co-operation and capacity in protecting the rights of national minorities in Moldova – key to promoting tolerance and inclusivity, which are important enabling factors for the Transdniestrian settlement process.