The People’s Advocate proposes to the Ministry of Justice to convene the meeting of the Working Group on Human Rights in the process of settlement of the Transnistrian problem, to discuss the alleged violations of human rights and the problems faced by the people domiciled on the left bank of the Dniester in the context of measures to combat COVID-19.

An approach with this content was sent today, March 25, 2020, on behalf of the Minister of Justice, Fadei Nagacevschi, considering the quality of the Ministry of Justice as coordinator of the Working Group on Human Rights.

Mihail Cotorobai proposed to convene the meeting of the Working Group on Human Rights, with the participation of sectoral experts from both banks of the Dniester, as well as representatives of the mediators and observers in the “5 + 2” negotiation format, to discuss the above mentioned topic.

In the approach it is mentioned that, in connection with the establishment of the state of emergency by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova on 17.03.2020 caused by the epidemiological situation through the COVID-19 infection, the strict monitoring of the respect of human rights and freedoms, including in the Transnistrian region, has become stringent. The People’s Advocate welcomes the measures aimed at preventing the spread of the pandemic, while also pointing out that they must be fair and directly proportional to the situation in the region.

The People’s Advocate notes that he took note of the Notification of Promo-LEX Association [1] on this subject, but that he also has signals received including through the Varnita Representation of the People’s Advocate’s Office about alleged human rights violations and problems faced by people domiciled on the left bank of the Dniester in the context of the measures taken by the de facto authorities on the left bank of the Dniester to prevent the spread of the virus in the region. For these reasons, the Ombudsman considers it appropriate to shortly convene the meeting of the Working Group on Human Rights in the process of negotiations for Transnistrian settlement.

Also, in a message sent today, on behalf of the Commissioner on Human Rights from Tiraspol, Veaceslav Kosinskii, the People’s Advocate addresses the urge to help solve the problems that have arisen in the context of actions to prevent and combat the new type Coronavirus related, in particular, to ensuring the access of people to the workplace, the place of living, to the banking institutions on both banks of the Dniester, as well as to the family doctors’ centers.

2020.03. 25

        Department for Human Rights Promotion and Communication

                                                                                                                                  Tel. 060002656

Address_Minister_Reintegration_concerns_observance_HR_Transnistria 

Letter to Human Rights Commissioner from the Transnistrian region 

[1] NOTIFICATION regarding the situation of the inhabitants of the Transnistrian region of the Republic of Moldova during the COVID-19 pandemic of March 24, 2020