In a world marked by instability, armed conflicts, democratic regressions, and increasingly frequent attacks on civil society, the role of human rights defenders becomes essential in protecting democracy, promoting social justice, and ensuring the respect of every individual’s fundamental rights. They contribute to creating a fairer society by monitoring human rights violations, providing legal and humanitarian assistance, raising public awareness, and influencing public policies.
In many states, human rights defenders are subjected to reprisals, intimidation, violence, and persecution. Protecting them is crucial for maintaining a free and fair society. International organizations, such as the UN and the Council of Europe, constantly emphasize the need for effective protection mechanisms for these crucial actors of democracy. Many abuses would remain unknown and unpunished without their activity, and democratic progress would be seriously affected.
In the Republic of Moldova, human rights defenders (HRDs) face multiple challenges that affect their activities.
Intimidation and harassment: HRDs and journalists are often victims of smear campaigns and harassment. The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders mentioned that they face intimidation and threats, especially when criticizing certain decisions.
Limited access to information: Journalists and other defenders encounter difficulties in obtaining information of public interest, which affects their ability to inform society accurately.
Lack of official status: Currently, HRDs in the Republic of Moldova do not have recognized official status, limiting their legal protection and formal recognition of their activities.
To address these challenges, the People’s Advocate Office (PAO) in the Republic of Moldova has initiated a crucial step to protect human rights defenders. After an extensive public consultation process over the past two years with representatives of authorities, civil society, media, and academia, the People’s Advocates have developed a Concept that aims to improve legislation and practices regarding the recognition and protection of human rights defenders. This document has been recently submitted to the Ministry of Justice, suggesting the establishment of an inter-institutional working group to develop a clear and effective regulatory framework in this area.
Human rights defenders are individuals or organizations that promote and protect fundamental human rights, including journalists, civic activists, lawyers, non-governmental organizations, trade unions, and even national human rights institutions.
The concept submitted by PAO suggests:
- Clearly defining the status of human rights defenders and the criteria for recognition;
- Establishing a protection mechanism in emergencies, especially when the state itself violates human rights;
- Ensuring free access to information and transparency for the media and NGOs;
- Recognizing and protecting child human rights defenders, whose involvement must be guaranteed by the state;
- Introducing clear sanctions for those who threaten or attack human rights defenders;
- Establish an inter-institutional cooperation mechanism for PAO, the Ministry of Justice, and civil society to collaborate effectively in implementing these measures.
The People’s Advocate, Ceslav Panico, emphasized:
“Human rights defenders are essential for a healthy democracy. However, in many countries in our region, they are intimidated, harassed, or even persecuted. Or, even more, labeled and assigned the status of “foreign influence agents”. The Republic of Moldova must be a positive example in the region and ensure a solid legislative framework and effective protection mechanisms for protecting them, whether we are talking about civil society organizations, journalists, civic activists, or lawyers”.
The People’s Advocate on the Rights of the Child, Vasile Coroi, added:
“Child human rights defenders are a reality. Recognizing them through the Law on the rights of the child is an important step, but we need additional regulations to empower and protect them”.
The People’s Advocates suggest the creation of a working group under the coordination of the Ministry of Justice, consisting of representatives of authorities, civil society, and international experts, to analyze existing legislation and propose a clear and effective regulatory framework for protecting human rights defenders.
PAO urges all responsible institutions and civil society to support this initiative, considering that human rights defenders are the backbone of democracy and the guarantors of respecting fundamental rights.
For more details, access the Human Rights Defenders Concept (https://ombudsman.md/post-document/concept-privind-aparatorii-drepturilor-omului/) and the proposal for legislation improvement submitted to the Ministry of Justice: (https://ombudsman.md/post-document/propunere-de-perfectionare-a-legislatiei-in-temeiul-art-27-lit-a-din-legea-cu-privire-la-avocatul-poporuluiombudsman-nr-52-2014/)
For more information, feel free to contact Svetlana Rusu (0600 026 44).
