Doc. 9352

4 February 2002

Violation of human rights in the Republic of Moldova

Motion for a resolution

presented by MM. Tudor, Ilascu and others

The Assembly,

1.       Given the fact that belonging to the Council of Europe entails, for each member state, rights and obligations responsibly assumed, not only for the pursuit of the national interests of each state but especially with a view to attaining the objectives and ideals of the Council of Europe such as they appear in the Statute;

2.       Taking into account the fact that, by ratifying the conventions adopted by the Council of Europe, the Contracting Parties have committed themselves to guaranteeing, to all persons under their jurisdiction, the effective rights and obligations stipulated under these treaties and to ensuring the functioning of a European juridical space;

3.       Restating that the European Convention on Human Rights compels the Contracting Parties to ensure “concrete and effective rights, not theoretical and illusory ones”, thus instituting a pan-European mechanism of solidarity for the observance of minimal standards in the area;

4.       Taking note, with concern, of the declarations of the Government in Kishinev on the refusal to comply with the resolution of the European Court on Human Rights regarding the registering and functioning of the Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Basarabia;

5.       Expressing its concern at the decision of the authorities in Kishinev to impose the obligatory studying of the Russian language on the entire population, although the Russian-speaking community represents no more than 12.5%;

6.       Recalling that, among the commitments enlisted in Opinion No. 188 (1995) on the accession of the Republic of Moldova to the Council of Europe, special importance was granted to ensuring respect for cultural and linguistic national identity and effective religious freedom for all citizens, without discrimination, including the believers of the Orthodox Metropolitan Church of Basarabia,

7.       Asks the Government of the Republic of Moldova:

–       to ensure the full enjoyment of the fundamental right to cultural and religious national identity as well as of the right to receiving education in their mother tongue, at all levels, for persons belonging to the majority population, who speak Romanian;

–       to stop the discriminatory measures on the access of the opposition and of the ethnic, linguistic and religious communities to the mass-media, as well as the persecutions against the exercise of confessional freedom of the believers of the Basarabian Metropolitan Church;

8.       Calls upon the national delegations represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to react with solidarity and efficiency, with a view to supporting the authorities in Kishinev in overcoming the present democratic deficit and to enhance bilateral assistance for the observance of human rights and democracy in this country, for all its citizens;

9.       Asks its Monitoring Committee to accelerate the preparation of the report on the commitments of the Republic of Moldova in the Council of Europe, and also to make the necessary pressure on the authorities in Kishinev to return to a behavioural pattern characteristic of a member of the human rights organisation in Strasbourg.

Signed : ¹

Tudor, Romania, EDG

Akçali, Turkey, EDG

Arzilli, San Marino, EPP/CD

Brînzan, Romania, SOC

de Puig, Spain, SOC

Goulet, France, EDG

Hooper, United Kingdom, EDG

Hovhannisyan, Armenia, EDG

İlaşcu, Romania, EDG

Olteanu, Romania, SOC

Popescu, Ukraine, SOC

Prisacaru, Romania, SOC

Schreiner, France, EDG

Stoica, Romania, LDR

Tevdoradze, Georgia, EDG

Vis, United Kingdom, SOC

¹        SOC: Socialist Group

      EPP/CD: Group of the European People’s Party

      EDG: European Democratic Group

      LDR : Liberal, Democratic and Reformers’ Group

      UEL: Group of the Unified European Left

      NR: not registered in a group