The main consultant within Monitoring and Reporting Division, Ms. Elena Munteanu-Sagaidashina, presented the opinion of the People’s Advocate at Workshop 2: Health, Social Security and Social Protection at the CoE Conference Cooperation for the Development of Social Rights in the Republic of Moldova, which took place in online format on November 24.

In her speech, the officer of the Office of the People’s Advocate (OPA) mentioned that, ratifying 19 years ago the European Social Charter (revised), the Republic of Moldova has committed to ensure social standards, by adapting legal and institutional mechanisms to European standards and values. Although 19 years of implementation of the treaty is a sufficient period of time, in our country it has not been possible to achieve tangible results in increasing the quality of people’s life.

Elena Munteanu-Sagaidashina mentioned that, although statistics show that the level of poverty in the Republic of Moldova is decreasing, the absolute poverty rate remains high (23% in 2018) [1], and Moldova continues to be the poorest country in Europe.

According to the opinion of the People’s Advocate, made public at the event, in the Republic of Moldova the continuous reduction of poverty and raising the standard of living of the people should be the priority no. 1 on the political agenda of the Republic of Moldova. The new National Development Strategy “Moldova 2030” sets these objectives, but it is important that they do not remain at the declarative level, to establish real, efficient and viable mechanisms for their implementation in practice.

Referring to the rights from the group 2 of the Charter “Health, Social Security and Social Protection”, the OPA’s official revealed that the right to health care is one of the most violated rights in our country according to the perception of the population (21.2%).

Speaking about the observance of the right to social security, the OPA’s official pointed out that despite some positive developments in terms of improving the regulatory framework and increasing social security contributions and social benefits, the level of benefits, correlated to the value of minimum existence, it continues to be quite below its level [2], and their increase takes place sporadically and is insignificant. It was also mentioned that social services remain underdeveloped and underfunded by the state, not being able to cover the basic needs of vulnerable people.

It was also recalled that, in its 2017 conclusions, the European Committee of Social Rights found that the Republic of Moldova had failed to comply with the standards set out in the Charter on health, social security and social protection. The state’s efforts have proved ineffective and insufficient. The country’s health and social security system still does not cover a significant part of the population, the vulnerable groups continue to be marginalized and have limited access to health and social services. The size of social security contributions are inadequate, as they often do not provide the minimum consumption.

The Office of the People’s Advocate, under its mandate as the National Institution for Human Rights, has monitored the observance of these rights and issued a series of recommendations both in its annual reports on respect of human rights and in studies and thematic reports on health. The People’s Advocate also drew up numerous proposals for improving the legislation in the field of health and social protection and, when these were not taken into account by the authorities, he submitted complaints to the Constitutional Court.

The level of implementation of the People’s Advocate’s recommendations by the competent authorities leaves much to be desired, and the dialogue between the Ombudsman and the Government in some places is flawed.

On behalf of the Ombudsman, the OPA’s officer conveyed the Ombudsman’s urging to make the necessary efforts to ensure the implementation of the European Committee’s recommendations so that state policies, legislation and practices comply with the established standards and to ensure the implementation of the Ombudsman’s recommendations, elaborated on the basis of the identified problems in the fields of reference, which are contained in its studies and reports.

The Ombudsman’s institution is open for a constructive dialogue with government authorities, in order to provide the necessary support and advice, in order to achieve the objective to respect the economic and social rights in the Republic of Moldova.

[1] Poverty level in the Republic of Moldova in 2014-2018// https://statistica.gov.md/libview.php?l=ro&idc=168&id=6698

[2] As of 01.10.2020, 13,831 people with disabilities (whose average amount of state social allowances is 555.61 lei) are below the extreme poverty line, the state not being able to provide them with a minimum necessary existence, thus, violating the right to a decent living.