UNITED NATIONS Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) COMMITTEE ON THE ELIMINATION OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION Seventy-first session 30 July-18 August 2007 LIST OF ISSUES OF THE COUNTRY RAPPORTEUR IN CONNECTION WITH THE CONSIDERATION OF THE FIFTH TO SEVENTH PERIODIC REPORTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA General information 1. As requested in paragraph 10 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations (CERD/C/60/CO/9), please provide more detailed information on the ethnic composition of the population, in particular on internally displaced persons, refugees, and the Roma population. Furthermore, please indicate the regions where the different ethnic minorities settle within the State party. Article 1 2. Please indicate whether the State party intends to extend the application of the principle of equality and non-discrimination in Article 16 (2) of the Constitutions to non-citizens. (State party report, para. 34) Article 2 3. Please describe any civil and administrative law provisions prohibiting racial discrimination and provide information on their implementation and effectiveness. 4. Please provide detailed information on the activities, mandate and funding of institutions and associations working to preserve and promote the culture and traditions of national minorities (see paragraph 14 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations). 5. As requested in paragraph 18 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations, please provide information on the results of the measures adopted so far under the “Main Guidelines on the Support of the Gypsy/Roma in the Republic of Moldova for 2001-2010” and on the current status of the draft “Decision of the Government on Approving the Action Plan on the Support of the Gypsies in the Republic of Moldova for 2005-2010” (State party report, paras. 71-76). Article 4 6. Please provide updated data on incidents of racial discrimination in the State party, as requested in the Committee’s previous concluding observations, disaggregated by national and/or ethnic origin of perpetrators and victims. 7. Please indicate reasons for the lack of investigations and convictions under article 346 of the Criminal Code and other criminal law provisions punishing incitement to racial hatred and similar acts of racial discrimination (State party report, at para. 85). Please also provide examples of implementation of articles 4 and 6 of the Convention, as well as information on incidents of racial discrimination in the State party and on the penalties and sanctions imposed on perpetrators of acts of racial discrimination (see paragraph 11 of the Committee’s previous concluding observations). Article 5 8. Please comment on information according to which high legal fees and the lack of interpretation services for members of linguistic minorities or foreign nationals prevent them from exercising their right to equal access to the courts. 9. What measures is the State party taking to combat police violence against persons belonging to minority groups, in particular the Roma, and to change the behaviour of police and law enforcement officials who “treat citizens belonging to national minorities, for instance the Roma/Gypsies, or people of African and Asian descent, differently because they look dissimilar to the rest of the population” (State party report, para. 49)? Has the State party introduced mandatory human rights training for law enforcement officials, as recommended in paragraph 17 of the Committee’s previous recommendations? 10. Please provide information on the nature of the measures recommended by the Bureau of Inter-Ethnic Affairs to prevent arbitrary detention, identity checks and home searches of Roma and persons of African or Asian origin, as well as on the conclusions of its study of this problem. (State party report, para. 77) 11. What legal safeguards are in place to ensure that rejected asylum seekers, including Chechens, are not subjected to ill-treatment and persecution upon return to their country of origin? Is their situation upon return monitored? 12. Please indicate whether the State party intends to further ease the requirement in the Law on Political Parties and Socio-Political Organizations that, in order for a party to be registered, it must have 5,000 active members residing in at least half of the 32 administrative districts (with no less than 150 members in each of these districts), so as to allow the registration of regional parties of national minorities (State party report, para. 186). 13. What measures are being taken to promote the representation of Roma in Parliament and other elected bodies and in the public service, in accordance with the Law on the rights of people belonging to national minorities (State party report, paras. 146-148)? Does the State party envisage introducing statutory electoral or public service quota to ensure an “approximately proportional representation” of Roma and other ethnic minorities? 14. Please specify the requirements for the registration of religious communities and indicate the precise grounds on which Tatar Muslim communities have been denied registration. Please provide information on the outcome of the court case referred to in paragraph 170 of the State party report. 15. What measures are being taken to improve the quality and number of television and radio programmes in minority languages other than Russian or covering issues of interest to the numerically smaller minorities, such as the Armenians, Belarusians, Azerbaijanis, Tatars, Poles and Lithuanians? 16. Please provide disaggregated statistical data on the extent of unemployment among the Roma and other ethnic minorities in the State party. What measures are being taken, including under district employment programmes, to qualify Roma for the labour market and how effective are these measures? (State party report, para. 192) 17. Please provide information on language training opportunities for refugees and on any progress achieved in reducing the delays in issuing identity papers and personal index numbers for tax purposes to refugees, with a view to facilitating their employment, access to social security and their integration into society (State party report, paras. 42-43, 191). 18. Please provide information on resources allocated and measures taken to improve the housing conditions of, and provide social housing to, Roma. 19. Please provide updated statistical data on the enrolment, attendance and dropout rates among minority, migrant and refugee children at all levels of schooling, disaggregated by age, gender, national or ethnic origin, mother tongue and rural/urban population. What special measures are being taken to promote primary, secondary and tertiary education of these groups, including the Roma, and how effective are they? (State party report, paras. 208-210) 20. What measures are being taken to ensure adequate opportunities for Gagauz, Roma, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and other minority children to receive instruction in, or of, their native language and culture? What is being done to ensure the quality of teaching in Moldovan in schools in which Russian or another minority language is the main language used? 21. Please provide information on the number of Moldovan/Romanian language schools in Transnistria, registered with the Moldovan Ministry of Education, that are allowed to use the Latin script. Has any progress been achieved in negotiating durable solutions that allow native Moldovan speakers in Transnistria to preserve their linguistic and cultural identities? Article 6 22. Please provide information on the measures taken to ensure the effective investigation of complaints about police violence against Roma. In particular, what has been done to investigate and punish those responsible for the armed police raid on the Roma community in Yedintsy on 18 July 2005 during which 30 Romani, including children, were arrested and allegedly beaten? What measures have been taken to compensate those Roma who were reportedly detained incommunicado for several weeks and released without a charge? 23. Please provide information on the number and nature of complaints about racial discrimination and discrimination against minorities filed with the Center for Human Rights – Ombudsman Office in Moldova and with the parliamentary advocates, the investigation and outcome of such cases, and the remedies provided to victims. (State party report, para. 231) What measures have been taken to raise public awareness about these and other mechanisms available to ensure protection from racial and ethnic discrimination? Article 7 24. Please provide more detailed information on school education and information campaigns on the cultures of national minorities, as well as on the role of the State and mass media in eliminating negative societal attitudes and stereotypes against members of minority groups, in particular the Roma, and against foreign nationals of different ethnic origin. - - - - -