Author: Gribincea Vladislav

Even though, the process of selection and promotion of judges has been improved since the adoption of the legal amendments in 2018[1], qualitative changes are necessary to ensure the selection of judges among the best candidates. This is the main conclusion of the Policy Paper: „Resetting the system of selection and promotion of judges – lessons learned and (new) challenges”, developed by the Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM).

On 6 August 2019, more than eight months after the amendment of the laws governing the selection and promotion procedure[2], the SCM held the first contest, considering the new rules. The legal amendments introduced the following novelties: the organization of contests twice a year; the obligation to participate and express option about every announced vacancy; evaluation by the SCM, accounting for 20% of the final score; as well as the extension of contests for administrative positions (chief judge, deputy chief judge), if only one contestant participates.

The monitoring of the contest of 6 August 2019 has identified three problematic aspects that can negatively influence the outcome of contests for judicial selection and severely compromise the purpose of the legal amendments introduced in late 2018:

• The interview at the SCM was problematic. The candidates did not have a “proper interview”, with specific questions and evaluation of all the candidates by standard evaluation criteria. The interviews were short, with a duration of 2-3 minutes on average, where the candidates were asked one or maximum two questions. The final score offered by the SCM for more or less similar performances varied between 4 and 20 points. This had a noticeable influence on the final score for some of the candidates, who lost up to 17 places in comparison with the initial ranking.
• The SCM accepted the applications of some candidates who graduated the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to be assigned only for some vacancies. According to the new amendments, the candidates are obliged to express option about all announced vacancies.
• The SCM did not give up the practice of offering the “exclusive vote” of its members in the case of selection and the transfer of judges. It is not clear why voting for a candidate again when each member of the SCM has already scored him/her. The mere vote counting may not stand as sufficient and fair reasoning. The SCM’s decisions should lay out the majority’s arguments in favor of selection.

The selection and career of judges are the key elements of the judiciary. The promotion of merit-based candidates is an essential condition for ensuring an independent, responsible and professional judiciary. In order to ensure a transparent procedure of selection and promotion of judges, and their fair appointment, LRCM experts recommend:

• The practice of biannual contests is welcomed and should be kept. This change enables a better career planning for candidates and saves the SCM resources and time;
• The SCM should require the candidates to the position of judge who graduated the NIJ to express their option about all vacancies put out to contest. This change will solve the issue of unfilled positions and the impossibility of filling less attractive judge positions outside the Municipality of Chișinău;
• The SCM needs to develop an interview methodology for evaluation of candidates. This methodology will help to score and choose in a merit-based way between candidates with equal scores in contests for the vacancies in the judiciary.

For more details on the practice of selection and promotion of judges in the period 2013-2018, access the Policy Paper „Resetting the system of selection and promotion of judges – lessons learned and (new) challenges”. The document is available in Romanian and English.

The Policy Paper was developed within the project „ Promoting rule of law in Moldova through civil society oversight”, implemented by the LRCM with the support of the U.S. Agency for International Development.

[1] Law No. 137 of 27 September 2018 for Amending Certain Legal Acts, effective since 19 October 2018, with some exceptions, available at https://www.legis.md/cautare/getResults?doc_id=105496&lang=ro.

[2] Law No. 137 of 27 September 2018 introduced changes to the Law on Judicial Organization, the Law on the Status of Judge, the Law on the SCM, the Law on the Selection, Performance Review, and Career of Judges, the Law on the Appointment and Promotion of Judges, and the Law on the Disciplinary Liability of Judges.

During the last two years, civil society has drawn attention to the fact that hate speech and incitement to discrimination are increasingly used in both political and religious contexts. In 2019 alone, during 7 months of monitoring carried out by the Promo-LEX, 835 cases of hate speech and incitement to discrimination were identified, which affected various groups of people.

Thus, if in 2018, in the public space and media in the Republic of Moldova were registered on average 2 cases/day, in 2019 this number increased to 4.2 cases/day. Most of the cases were perpetrated by men (87%): politicians, representatives of the Orthodox Church, journalists, opinion leaders, etc.

At the same time, the monitoring experience of the previous electoral campaigns carried out by Promo-LEX showed that discourse based on various forms of intolerance is becoming a tool used more and more often in electoral processes in Moldova. The media remains the most important source of distributing intolerance in the public space. For example, between August and November 2019 alone, hate speech cases received 6,288,058 views, which is 51,541 views per day. 

Civil society organizations remind that in March 2020, following a hearing of the Republic of Moldova Government, the UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women recommended “Adopt a law on hate speech and enhance the protection of women from hate speech, including through awareness-raising campaigns among politicians, monitor the use of discriminatory stereotypes and sexist language in political discourse and ensure effective remedies for victims”. 

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI), in its report on the Republic of Moldova, also warned in 2018 that the lack of reaction from the authorities, the uncontrolled online environment, inefficient sanctioning mechanisms and imperfect legislation play a significant role in spreading hatred and intolerance in society. 

In 2017, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) recommended that the Republic of Moldova review its legislation in order to sanction this type of discourse. The Committee expressed concern about the increasing promotion of stereotypes and prejudices against vulnerable groups: women, LGBT, Muslims, refugees, Roma, Jews, etc., but also the lack of responsibility for such violations. 

On 5 March 2020, Committee for Legal Matters, Appointments and Immunities organized public consultations on draft law no. 301 (the variant merged with project no. 277 of 20.06.2016) for the amendment and completion of some legislative acts (regarding the regulation of crimes motivated by prejudice). 

Following these consultations, within 10 days, the Committee was to finalize the draft law, taking into account the amendments proposed by civil society organizations and the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality. 

In this sense, civil society organizations reiterate the importance of finalizing the draft law no. 301/2016 and the acceptance of amendments formulated by civil society organizations, as well as the recommendations of international organizations, which will increase the responsibility of actors involved in the use of hate speech and will provide the opportunity to effectively combat the acts motivated by prejudiced, including hate speech.

Signatory organizations and authorities:

1. Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality
2. Promo-LEX
3. Legal Resources Centre from Moldova
4. National Coalition ”Life in family without violence”
5. The Platform for Gender Equality
6. GENDERDOC-M
7. RCTV Memoria
8. INVENTO
9. AO Vesta
10. AO BIOS
11. Association for Rehabilitation of disabled people from Moldova
12. Union of Organizations for Disabled from Moldova
13. INFONET Alliance
14. Foundation for Development from the Republic of Moldova
15. WatchDog.MD Community
16. National network LEADER
17. LDA Moldova
18. Transparency International-Moldova
19. Institute for European Policies and Reforms (IPRE)
20. Association of Independent Press (API)
21. Association for Participatory Democracy (ADEPT)
22. Institutum Virtutes Civiles
23. National Environmental Center

The People's Advocate subscribes to the Appeal of several NGOs regarding the need to urgently finalize the draft law no. 301 regarding the regulation of crimes motivated by prejudice. More details on the ombudsman.md website.

The appeal in Romanian is available here: