WUNRN
The
UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is the body of independent experts that monitors
implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights by its States parties.
ESCR Committee 46th Session -
Moldova Review:
_____________________________________________________________________
Multiple Significant GENDER
Dimensions of Moldova Civil
Society/Human Rights
Shadow/Alternative Report.
Direct Link to Full Moldova ESCR Shadow Report:
Moldovan Civil Society Alliance (submitted by Legal
Resources Centre)
Alternative Report submitted to the 46th
Session
of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in relation to the
Second Periodic Report of the
This submission has been written in March 2011 in direct consultation with civil society organizations and human rights activists, and covers the following issues:
|
Key issues |
Page |
|
Introduction |
3 |
1. |
Gender discrimination |
5 |
2. |
HIV-related discrimination |
7 |
3. |
Racial discrimination of Roma |
7 |
4. |
Discrimination
of minority’s cultural rights |
8 |
5. |
Discrimination against sexual minorities |
9 |
6. |
The
discriminatory compulsory military service |
11 |
7. |
Coordination of implementation of anti-trafficking legislation and policies |
12 |
8. |
Victims -witnesses
protection |
13 |
9. |
Domestic violence in the |
13 |
10. |
Right to a family |
16 |
11. |
Child protection against economic and social exploitation |
17 |
12. |
Reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant
mortality |
17 |
13. |
Child rights to education |
18 |
14. |
Right to education of children with disabilities |
19 |
15. |
The sexuality education |
21 |
16. |
Status of people
with disabilities in |
22 |
17. |
Vocational training and labor inclusion of persons with disabilities |
23 |
18. |
Social Housing |
24 |
19. |
Housing Quality |
25 |
20. |
Inadequate pensions and the right to social security |
26 |
21. |
The right to social security for migrant workers |
28 |
22. |
Migration – not a poverty reduction mechanism for all |
28 |
23. |
Older people’s poverty |
29 |
24. |
Extreme cold and the right to an adequate standard of living of older people |
30 |
25. |
Poor nutrition and the right to food of older people |
30 |
26. |
Medical costs and the right to health |
31 |
27. |
Homosexuality
still viewed as a disorder or deviation in |
32 |
28. |
Documentation and medical
services to LGBT persons |
32 |
Report written by Moldovan civil society informal network of organizations and
human rights activists:
Ø Center for social inclusion
and equal opportunities for people with disabilities “Speranta”;
Ø
Coalition on Non-discrimination;
Ø GenderDoc-M;
Ø Help Age
International;
Ø Institute for
Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”;
Ø
Ø National Council of
Wome;
Ø Victor POPOVICI,
independent expert,
Ø Public Association
“Promo-LEX”
Ø Sergiu RUSANOVSCHI,
independent expert;
Ø
The Family Planning
Association of
Executive team:
Ion GUZUN,
Ala MINDICANU, gender expert, PhD,
(amindicanu@yahoo.com)
We gratefully acknowledge the technical
support, cooperation and encouragement received from the Program on Women’s
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (pwescr@pwescr.org) and its Executive
Director, Priti DAROOKA.
We gratefully acknowledge the support of experts and NGO activists who contributed to this report: Angela FROLOV, Tatiana JALBA, Marin GURIN, Ion GUZUN, Iulia MARCINSCHI, Victor POPOVICI, Lilia POTING, Ana REVENCO, Sergiu RUSANOVSCHI, Doina-Ioana STRAISTEANU, Tatiana SOROCAN and Svetlana TODERAS.
Introduction
From
a Human Development Index (HDI) perspective,
The population of the
The economy is steadily recovering, Economic
activity is bolstered by a pick-up in industrial production and trade,
supported by the removal of many restrictions on exports and imports and
exchange rate depreciation, and growth is projected to reach 2.5 percent in
2010[3][3].
According to National Bureau of Statistics,
compared to December 2010 the consumer price index (CPI) registered 101% and
106% compared to January 2010[6][6]
The economy is based on agriculture and limited
industry (mainly in the capital Chisinau). The country is poor in energy
resources (limited coal reserves) and faces serious economic challenges marked
with regional and social inequity.[7][7].
Overall, the rural population appears to be more vulnerable to climate
change impacts as it has more limited access to medical services as well as to
medical insurance coverage with significant share of the vulnerable elderly
population.. It is much more dependent on a non-centralised supply of water
(which is of poor quality), as climate change affect the agricultural sector,
the risks of malnutrition will become particularly important for the rural
population.[8][8]
In April 2009
In November 2010 early election brought into
power a new pro-European government. Now the efforts of a governing
The United Nations Development Programme
Poverty, prices, unemployment, worry about
children’s future, corruption and criminality continue to be the real problems
the Moldovan people confront, according to the last Public Opinion Barometer
survey in November 2010.[13][13]
Moldovan NGO are aware about the efforts of AEI
to accomplish all announced reforms, but consider that economic, social and
cultural rights are not yet protected properly in the
Gender discrimination.
Transition and development
processes in the
Even if the parliament
has adopted the Law on Gender Equality in 2006, the mechanism of the
implementation is still imperfect, and the sanctions for those who break the
law provisions are missing from the legislation. Moreover, the existing
sanctions are not applied by the court for different reasons: tradition, lack
of precedents etc. The art.176
(Violation of equal rights of citizen by officials) is not practically applied,
although there are many cases infringements of rights of women- employees[14][14].
Women are not equally represented in
the decision making bodies. The proportion of women members of parliament in
most of the region is slowly rising. Nevertheless, with a regional average of
just over 15 percent, the proportion of women in parliament is still below the
critical mass of 30 percent considered necessary for women to contribute
meaningfully to politics. But increasing women’s political participation also
needs to go beyond the numbers, making sure gender issues become an integral
part of political agendas. Women's equal participation in decision-making is
not only a human rights issue but also a prerequisite for a democratic society
where the interests, needs and concerns of both women and men are taken into
account in political decision-making. By improving gender balance in governance
institutions, governance structures will be strengthened, making them less
vulnerable in crisis situations is including times of economic downturn[15][15].
The
majority of unemployed Moldovan - 68 per cent - is women. Women earn 70 to 80
per cent of a man’s salary and are three times as likely to lose their job as a
man.[16][16]
One factor holding back Moldovan women from advancing in their careers
is a lack of social services. With the transition, services like childcare are
less available as state subsidies have dried up, putting increased pressure on
women trying to juggle the dual responsibilities of work and home. As women
spend more of their time in unpaid domestic chores, they are unable to pursue
training or gain other skills that would enable them to obtain a better job.
Instead they are relegated to unstable, poorly paid and legally unprotected
informal work.
In
Women’s
participation in business is low - only five per cent of managers are women -
but the numbers are rising. Approximately 2 per cent of women managers run big
enterprises, 10 per cent are in mid-sized enterprises, 40 per cent are in small
enterprises and the other 48 per cent are in micro-enterprises. The increase in
women’s participation in business represents a positive alternative to
unemployment, and is an efficient use of labour resources. Moreover, national
policies do not currently identify women as a target group for
entrepreneurship; limiting the support they receive to pursue independent
employment[18][18].............
[1][1] The Human Rights Resource Group is an informal
coalition of 13 human rights activists from
[2][2] National Human Development Report 2009-2010, page 1, available at http://bit.ly/fLrSYU.
[3][3] IMF Executive
Board Concludes 2010, http://bit.ly/gz8fFi.
[4][4] WHO. Country Cooperation Strategy. http://bit.ly/dVZcHO.
[7][7] Global finance
data, http://bit.ly/e2TwCp.
[8][8] National Human Development Report 2009-2010, Page 6, available at http://bit.ly/fLrSYU.
[9][9]
[10][10] I.e. Republic of
Moldova and Transdniestria, the mediators - Russian Federation, Ukraine and the
OSCE - and the United States and the European Union as
observers.
[11][11] Freedom House Report, http://bit.ly/h0Y5ks.
[12][12] UNDP, Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Local
Communities in Moldova Study, September 2009, http://bit.ly/gOY0oR.
[13][13] http://bit.ly/g1PKKw.
[14][14] Criminal Code of
the
[17][17] Free