We invite you to discover the summary of the activities carried out by the LRCM team in 2020!

Rule of law

We analysed the perception of the main actors in the judiciary on justice reform and combatting corruption; the efficiency of the mechanism for compensation by the state of the damage caused by breach of the reasonable time; the efficiency of the disciplinary liability and selection and promotion of judges; the practice of anonymization of court decisions and with regards to expropriation from good-faith purchasers.

We organized the ”Justice and Anticorruption Reforms” Forum, the main platform of inclusive discussions on justice reform and combatting corruption.

We developed informative materials on confidence in the judiciary; anonymization of court decisions; the activity of the National Integrity Authority; efficiency and quality of justice; justice sector personnel; salaries of judges and prosecutors; resources allocated to justice.

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• Together with other civil society organizations (CSOs), we expressed our deep concern regarding the attacks launched by politicians against the Constitutional Court and the judiciary and urged to end them immediately.
• We organized public lectures on integrity, fight with corruption and justice for circs 150 students.

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Human Rights

We summarized the violations found by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) regarding the Republic of Moldova for 23 years; analysed the ECtHR’s activity in 2019 and the jurisprudence of the Equality Council regarding equality and non-discrimination.

• We informed the Council of Europe on the execution by the Republic of Moldova of the ECtHR decisions related to unmotivated arrests and extra-legal transfer to Turkey in 2018 of five Turkish citizens residing in Moldova.
• We trained 35 lawyers in the fields of mass-media law and European Convention on Human Rights; organized public lectures regarding ECtHR where more than 100 students and professionals participated.

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Democracy and civil society

We successfully advocated for the adoption of a new NGO law in Moldova, that enshrines the best European standards on freedom of association; we developed informative materials that guide representatives of noncommercial organizations on how to harness the provisions of this law.

We organized the National Conference for CSOs where circa 100 CSO representatives participated. They engaged in discussions and shared their experience in order to help each other to be resilient during crisis times, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Together with other CSOs, we developed the radiography of attacks against non-governmental organizations of the Republic of Moldova in 2019 and we united our forces to stop the campaign of defamation and discrediting civil society launched by politicians.
• We continued to promote the 2% designation mechanism and trained more than 100 CSO representatives in this domain.
• Together with other CSOs, we condemned the adoption of laws of major importance for the economic, social and information security of the country in violation of the legislative procedure; we advocated for improvement of electoral legislation; we requested to stop the use of hate speech during the presidential campaign; and the efficient management of the situation during the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
• We organized a winter school for 22 students who, during four days, learned what democracy means, how to think critically, and how to be civically engaged in order to bring positive change in society.

In November 2020, LRCM celebrated its 10^th Year anniversary. On this occasion, LRCM offered an annual scholarship for a student, by this offering its support in development of professional skills and civic engagement.

The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum condemns the unprecedented degradation of the governing act as a result of the parliamentary majority, consisting of the Socialists Party of the Republic of Moldova, the „Sor” Political Party and the „pentru Moldova” parliamentary group, disrespect the legal procedures on promoting a series of draft legal acts. During the parliamentary plenary sessions from 3 and 16 December, grossly infringing the legislative procedures, the above mentioned political parties have adopted a list of laws that compromise the fight against corruption, undermine the public budget, endanger the relationship with the development partners and risk to destabilise the macro financial situation of the country.   

Respectively, additionally to the concerns expressed in the public declaration from December 7, 2020, we would like to draw the attention of the society, the national authorities and the international community to the following toxic decisions that generate imminent risks in what concerns the financial, political, economic and social stability and security in the Republic of Moldova.

Repealing „The law on the billion theft”

• 56 members of the parliament from PSRM, the „Sor” Party and the parliamentary group „pentru Moldova” have adopted a draft law repealing the Law no.235/2016. With this vote, the mechanism through which the Ministry of Finance reimburses the National Bank of Moldova the emergency loans the National Bank lent to the three bankrupt banks (BC Banca de Economii, BC Banca Sociala and BC Unibank) throughout 2014/2015. The vote was cast through infringing all requirements related to transparency and consultations in the decision making process of the relevant authorities. Moreover, repealing the Law no.235/2016 creates imminent risks on the public finances, the macroeconomic balances in the national economy and undermines the trust of the external partners and of the international financial institutions in the state Republic of Moldova.
• Cancelling the debt of the Ministry of Finance to the National Bank of Moldova will lead to the undercapitalisation of the BNM, making it incapable to exercise its legally foreseen attributes: ensuring price stability and the trust in the national currency. This will quickly aggravate the financial position of the firms and the citizens, as well as the stability of the public finances in the context in which the Government will be forced to contract new debts in order to not allow this social crisis to escalade. Moreover, this will undermine the trust of foreign investors in our country, which will in turn make the credits and investments attractions, particularly external ones, more complicated.
• Repealing the Law no.235/2016 risks to provoke chaos in the economy and the society, but it seems this is exactly what the members of parliament had in mind in order to accomplish their narrow group interests, including saving the ones responsible for the banking fraud.

Coming back to the retirement age thresholds at 57 for women and 62 for men

• The Parliament adopted in second reading the draft Law on amending the Law no. 156/1998 on the public pension system (art.41, 42). The essence of this law is to reduce the retirement age to the same levels as in 2016, when the process of gradual increase of the retirement age was initiated (57 years old for women and 62 for men).
• Although the draft law concerns an issue with a massive social and budgetary impact, it was promoted under circumstances of total lack of transparency, in the absence of any kind of public consultations and without obtaining all the mandatory endorsements from the institutions involved, particularly referring to the Government. The timeline from the registration of the draft Law in the Parliament to its adoption constituted a mere 6 days. The superficiality of the briefing note on the draft Law particularly stands out, as it provides ZERO calculations on the budgetary impact of this draft Law, although the implementation of this measure could lead to the collapse of the public pensions system.
• Even the simplest and most conservative calculations show that only for the year 2020, an additional 1,4 – 1,5 billion MDL would be additionally necessary, and for the following years, the pressure on the budget will increase several times, provided the increase in the number of persons that will reach the decreased retirement age.
• In other words, the conjunction parliamentary majority PSRM-„Sor” Party has votes for the decrease of the retirement age without communicating to the society the costs implied by this reform, which can be dramatically reflected in the following: i) increase of the tax burden on firms and employees through a substantial enhancement of the social contributions, ii) ceasing any potential increases in the pensions and even their forced reduction, in order to maintain the capacity to actually pay them, iii) a maximum level of limitations in investments from the state budget in order to compensate, through transfers, the deficit of the pensions’ fund.
• Although the pension system reform from 2016 was not a perfect one, it allowed the recalculations/updating/valorisation of the pensions for more categories of retired persons. This lead to an increase in the average pension from 1275 to 2050 MDL during a period of 4 years, and in the lack of this reform, the average pension today would be 500 MDL lower. If in December 2016, the monthly expenditures of the pension fund were at 881 million MDL, in September 2020, their volume was 61% larger (1,4 billion MDL). The authors of the draft law presented examples on the retirement age from states that are situated in other geographical zones or with a demographic situation radically different than in the Republic of Moldova, for example – Sri Lanka, but they forgot to mention that in the majority of the states in the region, the ageing population phenomenon lead to implementing the reform on the increase of the retirement age, even including in the Russian Federation, used often by PSRM as a point of reference, where currently there is an ongoing reform to increase the retirement age from 55 to 60 for women and from 60 to 65, for men.
• In conclusion, by adopting this populist draft Law, which is also not covered by budgetary means, the PASRM-„Sor” Party MPs provided the population with the false illusion that they would retire earlier, but they keep quiet about how this will condemn the retired persons to miserable pensions and an uncertain and insecure old age.
• Moreover, cancelling the pension reform jeopardises the potential of the Government of the Republic of Moldova to access external funds from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and other development partners.

Adoption of the fiscal and customs Policy (and the Law on the 2021 State Budget) by the Parliament

• The most important annual decision of the Parliament – adopting the fiscal/customs policy (Law no.476 from 1 December 2020) and the Law on the state budget – took place this year in the complete absence of the minimum mandatory procedures on transparency, lack of consultations and also included provisions that promote narrow political interests. During the period of the State Budget adoption (October-December 2020), the Parliament is obliged to ensure a sufficient level informing, consulting and participation, in order to ensure that this document responds to existent priorities, but particularly, to ensure parliamentary oversight on how the public money is spent.
• The draft fiscal/customs Policy and the 2021 State Budget law were submitted to the Parliament by the government on December 1, 2020 and on these legal acts there were no genuine parliamentary discussions organised, the act openly promoting political cleintelism. All this also took place under circumstances when there is a lack of expenditures coverage, with gross violations of the Law on public finances, the budgetary-fiscal responsibility and the Parliament Regulation. One of the most eloquent examples is the distribution, foreseen at Annex 7 of the State Budget Law, of over 350 million MDL, under a dangerous political discrimination discretion.
• Aside from the fact that this is a bad example of deliberative power abuse of the state, the Parliament gave an extremely dangerous signal on the rule of law principles, when the abuse of the majority is legalised, reducing all good governance and proper budgetary resources management efforts made since 2009 forward to zero. More serious is the fact that provided the pandemic situation and the crises associated with it, the amendments operated in the Parliament do not provide any solutions to the current issues of the country: increase of the unemployment rate, the severe difficulties of the health system, education, the real sector of the economy.
• The issue regarding the capping of local taxes remains a controversial topic, in the lack of a genuine dialogue and a platform that would analyse the limitations set by these caps for the local authorities, as well as a profound misunderstand of what the local public authorities’ autonomy stands for. Ignoring the common interest of the local authorities by the members of the parliament, makes us believe that they seem to have forgotten that being elected in a constituency means they should represent their constituents needs and interests in the legislative body.

Amending the Law no.278/2007 on tobacco control

• The amendments operated to the Law no.278/2007 on tobacco control and the amendments operated to this article in the budgetary-fiscal policy does not represent something other than a special mechanism to tax cigarettes. There is no reason explaining why for this new type of cigarettes – „cigarillos” – the excise duty paid should be at least twice less than the excise duty on the cheapest cigarettes from the national market. This product is as harmful as any other tobacco product, with the same toxicity level and can cause addiction, it is not a „social product” and the explanation that this amendment corresponds to the European acquis is false.

Amending the operational framework of the National Integrity Authority

• The Parliament adopted, in two reading, on the same day, a draft law that amends the legal framework for operation of the National Integrity Authority. The draft law was initiated on December 4, 2020, less than two weeks prior to its adoption, by a group of socialist MPs. Additional problematic provisions have been inserted in the bill in the very day of its adoption.
• The draft Law reduced the time-limit for carrying out controls on assets and personal interests from 3 years to 1 year from the end of the mandate of the public employee; brings confusion as to the time-limit for challenging the acts of the National Integrity Authority and conditions the disciplinary liability for not declaring assets and wealth by the existence of a final act issued by the National Integrity Authority; makes it impossible to dismiss a public servant for the failure to declare assets, for incompatibility or conflict of interests after more than one year from the misconduct and heavily complicates the criminal procedures into the same deeds.
• In essence, the draft reduces the possibility of ANI to verify civil servants and introduces an even greater chaos in the procedure on investigating the assets and sanctioning the public servants and makes their dismissal for the breach of the integrity legislation almost impossible. This is per se an act difficult to accept, in a state that openly declares the fight against corruption as an absolute priority. Although this draft Law is not referring to a burning issue, it was adopted in a great rush. The voting on the bill was carried out with infringements on legal procedures (the lack of the Government opinion and of the anti-corruption expertise) and without conducting public consultations. The rush in which such a sensitive draft act was voted reveal the existence of hidden interests.

Amendments in the pharmaceutical field

• The legal amendments operated on December 16 by the PSRM-„Sor” Party in the medicine and pharmaceutical fields, adopted in the absence of a consensus and without carrying out consultations with the pharmaceutical community form the country and which have, de facto, removed from the normal rigorous control the pharmaceutical activity will undermine this sector and will directly affect people’s health.
• Liberalising the prices for medication obtained without a doctor’s prescription can inevitably lead to the increase of prices on the market, which even currently is far from being a transparent one, operating under proper competition environment, while imitating the commercial excess for compensated medication to up to 12% will lead to the gradual disappearance from the drug stores of these types of medication, provided the lack of certain economic interest in activating in such circumstances, particularly for small pharmacies, without scale savings.
• The distracting changes introduced for this sector, however, do not stop here. The amendment that will allow the sale in the Republic of Moldova of medication unauthorised in their country of origin, that did not complete the conformity and harmlessness tests, as well as introducing the possibility to sell medication outside pharmacies creates all necessary premises that the population start to largely purchase dubious products that could have potential serious consequences on their health. Additionally, the possibility to sell medication in the so-called mobile pharmacies was added, and it is obvious that the optimum conditions for storing medication will not be ensured. Moreover, these medications will be sold by persons who do not hold special preparation in this regard, and the impossibility to effectively monitor these units of transportation widely available for the public also opens the door to the possibility to freely sale fake and counterfeited medication.
• In conclusion, we can say that guided by populist electoral promises and narrow business interests, the parliamentary majority formed of PSRM – „Sor” Party MPs exposes to great risks without any hesitation even people’s health in order to accomplish their own interests.

In the context of the above-mentioned:

• We qualify these and other concerted actions of the members of parliament representing the parliamentary majority PSRM, the ‚Sor” Party and the „pentru Moldova” group as institutional sabotage aiming to destabilise the macroeconomic, economic and social situation in the Republic of Moldova, in an irrecoverable way with negative effects on many years to come ahead.

• We require the Members of Parliament to notify the Constitutional Court in what concerns the constitutionality of the acts adopted by the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova, taking into account the infringements and the serious procedural errors admitted in the process. The respective legal acts were hastily adopted, without carrying out public consultation, most of them lacking the mandatory endorsements from the competent institutions.

• We require insistently that the Members of the Parliament strictly respect the law, the people’s will and abstain from promoting initiatives that undermine the rule of law, the independence of public institutions, democracy and the country’s external relations, as well as encourage the promotion of obscure schemes in the detriment of national interests and objectives.

• We urge the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova to fully exercise its parliamentary oversight function, to respect the principles of transparency in the decision making process, to not accept for analysis and adoption legal acts that were drafted without any consideration for the respect of legal procedures on consulting the public.

The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum was created in 2011 and currently has 96 member organisations as members, 7 of them representing umbrella – organisations for another 255 organisations. The mission of the platform is to consolidate the European integration process and the democratic development of the Republic of Moldova, to contribute to the advocacy process and monitoring the EU-Moldova Association Agreement as well as other relevant documents that refer to the Eastern Partnership and the relationship of the Republic of Moldova with the European Union.

The declaration in ENGLISH is HERE.

The declaration in ROMANIAN is HERE.

În fiecare an, la 9 decembrie, celebrăm Ziua Internațională Anticorupție pentru a crește conștientizarea publicului privind fenomenul corupției în lume. În anul 2020, tematica propusă de Organizația Națiunilor Unite (ONU) este „Recuperare prin integritate”. Corupția prosperă în perioade de criză, iar pandemia globală COVID-19 nu face excepție. Ca urmare a acestui an plin de provocări și schimbări complexe, ONU pune accent pe faptul că diminuarea corupției și restabilirea incluzivă după COVID-19 poate fi făcută doar prin integritate. O recuperare prin integritate necesită implicarea unor organisme anticorupție puternice, o mai bună supraveghere a pachetelor de asistență de urgență, achiziții publice mai deschise și transparente,  și, în mod crucial, implicarea societății civile. Fiecare din noi poate contribui la diminuarea fenomenului corupției prin adoptarea integrității ca principiu propriu!

Centrul de Resurse Juridice din Moldova (CRJM) se alătură campaniei lansate de ONU de Ziua Internațională Anticorupție, invitând pe cei interesați să completeze un quiz pentru testarea cunoștințelor în domeniul anticorupției. Din persoanele care răspund corect la toate întrebările CRJM va desemna aleatoriu un/o câștigător/oare a două volume de Tratat de drept penal din 2015. Termenul limită de completare a quiz-ului este de 13 decembrie 2020 (inclusiv). Alegerea aleatorie a câștigătorului/oarei va fi făcută la 14 decembrie 2020 printr-o aplicație online.

Quiz-ul este disponibil mai jos:

The National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum strongly condemns abuses committed by failure to comply with legal procedures of promotion of draft laws, committed by the parliamentary majority, composed of the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova, Șor Party, and “Pentru Moldova” group, during the plenary session of the Parliament on the December 3, 2020, namely, adoption, with fragrant violation of the legislative procedures, of draft laws of major importance to the economic, social and information security of the country. The course of events at the plenary session took the characteristics of agreements made between clans with obscure interests in power, jeopardizing the foreign relations with the strategic partners of the USA, the EU and Romania, hiding corruption schemes in the draft budget law and undermining state security through draft laws that fuel separation on ethic criteria, stimulates separatism and federalization of the Republic of Moldova.

Moreover, none of the draft laws were subjected to anti-corruption expertise nor consulted publicly. Likewise, the draft laws lacked the opinion of the profile parliamentary commissions and the opinion of the Government. The draft laws were voted on as a matter of urgency, although, with one exception, they do not cover urgent topics. We note that most of the decisions adopted on December 3, 2020 have the aim of undermining the role of the new President elect of the Republic of Moldova. We urge members of the Parliament to strictly respect the law, the will of the people, and to refrain from promoting initiatives which undermine the rule of law, the independence of public institutions, democracy and the country’s external relations, as well as encourage the promotion of obscure schemes to the detriment of national interests and objectives. We also urge the Parliament to fully exercise its parliamentary control function, comply with the principles of decision transparency, not to accept for approval documents which have not complied with the legal procedures for consultation with the public. At the same time, state institutions must not change their subordination according to who comes to the Presidency.

At the meeting on 3 December 2020, the Parliament adopted the following main acts:

• In two readings on the same day – the law on the transfer of SIS to the Parliament’s subordination. The draft law was registered in Parliament by the Socialist deputies on December 1, 2020, and voted after 2 days, without the opinions of the parliamentary committees and the existence of the anti-corruption expert report, which are mandatory according to the law. The draft law was not even discussed in the Parliamentary Committee on Security and Public Order, which had to present the report in Parliament’s plenary. According to the disposition of the President of the Parliament, the draft law was transferred for examination to the Legal Committee, controlled by the parliamentary majority. The haste with which this legislative initiative was adopted can only be explained by the desire of the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova to politically control the SIS after the loss of the presidential elections by Igor DODON. In fact, the transfer of the SIS under presidential control was also carried out at the request of the Socialist Party of the Republic of Moldova, in 2019, when the country’s President was the informal leader of the party.
• In two readings during the same day – the annulment of the 2018 act on the sale of land on which the republican stadium was located for the construction of the Embassy of USA to the Republic of Moldova, after it was registered in Parliament by the Socialist deputies on December 1, 2020. The draft law was also not discussed in all parliamentary committees and was not subjected to anti-corruption expertise. The project was voted without the opinion of the Government, which is mandatory for projects that may affect public revenues. The Government’s opinion was also imperiously needed given that the adoption of this project could lead to a deterioration of bilateral relations with the United States. We mention that, on December 2, 2020, the Șor Party registered in the parliament a draft law for the concession of this land, and after the adoption on December 3 of the law, the leader of this party, Ilan Șor, announced on social media networks his intentions to build an amusement park on this land.
• In first reading – the amendment of the legislation on the functioning of spoken languages on the territory of the Republic of Moldova. This draft law, registered by the Socialist deputies on December 1, 2020, was adopted without prior discussion, in the absence of the opinion of all parliamentary commissions and anti-corruption expertise. Given that the subject of languages spoken in the Republic of Moldova is a particularly sensitive one for the society, the illegal adoption of this draft law intentionally aggravates tensions in society, apparently, with the aim to withdraw the public opinion from the real problems of the country  ( the pandemic crisis that is worsening, the increasing rate of poverty, corruption, etc.)
• In the first reading – the amendment of the audiovisual legislation, for reduction of the mandatory volume of own broadcasted material and to exclude the interdiction to broadcast propagandistic materials from abroad. This draft law was registered by the Socialist deputies on November 23, 2020, 10 days before the approval in the first reading. This draft law was also not discussed in the profile committee (education and mass-media) and has been allocated by the President of the Parliament to be presented to the Legal Commission, controlled by the parliamentary majority.
• In the first reading – the adoption of the fiscal and budget policy, of the state budgets and of the social insurance for the year 2021. The draft laws, with a volume of several hundred pages, were published by the Government for public consultation on November 30, 2020, adopted by the Government on the same day and registered in parliament on the evening of 1 December 2020. Similar to the already established bad practice, the draft laws were not discussed in all parliamentary commissions. Deputies were given less than 24 hours to study them. Given the importance of these draft laws, their hasty examination, even during the first lecture, when conceptual matters of the laws are discussed, has no justification.

It is also a matter of concern that, in the last period of time, deputies of the parliamentary majority have registered several draft laws in parliament aimed at reducing parliamentary democracy. Also during the plenary session on December 3, 2020, the composition of the permanent bureau of the Parliament was modified- the body that establishes the parliamentary agenda. The number of representatives of the Democratic Party of Moldova, which is now in opposition, has been reduced to ensure control of the parliamentary majority over the permanent bureau. This behavior is irresponsible and can only further degrade confidence in Parliament. The Venice Commission spoke out against reducing democracy to a simple majority: “Democracy cannot be reduced to the rule of the majority; majority rule is limited by the Constitution and by law, primarily in order to safeguard the interests of minorities. Of course, the majority steers the country during a legislative period but it must not subdue the minority; it has an obligation to respect those who lost the last elections.”

The Moldovan National Platform of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum was created in 2011 and currently has 96 member organisations, 8 of these organisations being umbrella-organisations for other over a thousand organizations. Its mission is to contribute to the European integration process and advocate for democracy in the Republic of Moldova. The National Platform actively contributes to the advocacy process and monitors the implementation of the Association Agreement between the EU and the Republic of Moldova and other relevant documents that refer to the Eastern Partnership and the relationship between the EU and the Republic of Moldova.

The statement in ENGLISH is available HERE.

The statement in ROMANIAN is available HERE.

Signatories of the Declaration :

1.Transparency International Moldova

2.Association for Participatory Democracy ADEPT

3.Centre for Independent Journalism

4.Institute for Urban Development

5.Association of Independent Press

6.Promo-LEX

7.European Institute for Political Studies

8.International Centre for Women Rights Protection and Promotion “La Strada”

9.Institute for Human Rights

10.Alliance of Active NGOs for Social Protection of Child and Family

11.„Ave Copiii”

12.Legal Resources Centre from Moldova

13.National Roma Centre

14.Institute for European Policies and Reforms

15.Independent Analytical Centre Expert-Grup

16.Union of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities from Moldova

17.WatchDog.md Community

18.Amnesty International Moldova

19.ESGA (Expertsfor Security and Global Affairs)

20.CASMED

21.Local Democracy Agency Moldova

22.INVENTO

23.Centre of Development in Education

24.Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance

25.Alliance of Organisations for Persons with Disabilities

26.INFONET

27.Institutum Virtutes Civiles

28.Медиа Центр Приднестровья

29.Centre for Policies and Reforms

30.Institute for Development and Social Initiatives “Viitorul”

31.Alliance of Small Enterprises from Moldova

32.Business Professional Women

33.Congress of Local Authorities from Moldova

34.Foreign Policy Association35.INTECO

36.„Moms in Action”

37.National Association of Paralegals from the Republic of Moldova

38.„Woman and Child-Protection and Support”

39.„Pro-Europa” Centre from Comrat

40.Regional Centre for Durable Development from Ungheni

41.National Association of European Trainers from Moldova

42.Regional Centre „Contact” Bălți

43.“Youth for Future”

44.Informational and Support Centre for Young Economists “CERTITUDINE”

45.National Centre of Assistance and Information for Moldovan NGOs “CONTACT”

46.„Pro Regional Cooperation”

47.Small Business Association

48.Centre for Development and Management

49.Centre of Economic Development and Public Affairs

50.Business Consulting Institute

51.National LEADER Network in Moldova

52.“Terra-1530”

53.Association of Women for Environmental Protection and Durable Development

54.Ecological Consulting Centre Cahul

55.BIOS

56.ECOTOX

57.Ștefan-Vodă Territorial Organisation of the Ecological Movement of Moldova

58.Regional Environment Centre from Moldova

59.Association for Waste Recovery E-circular

60.Ecological Movement of Moldova

61.„Hai Moldova”

62.Regional Centre of Environmental Studies ECOS

63. Republican Centre for Children and Youth Gutta-Club

64.International Association of River Keepers „Eco-Tiras”

65.“Cutezătorul”

66.“Caroma-Nord”

67.Eco-Contact

68.“BIOTICA”

69.National Environment Centre

70.Alliance for Energy Efficiency and Renewables

71.Automobil Club Moldova

72.Eco-Sor

73.GREEN-School

74.”MilleniuM” Training and Development Institute

75.National Youth Council of Moldova

76.„Youth for the Right to Live”

77.East-European Foundation

78.Cross-Border Cooperation and European Integration Agency

79.„Eco-Răzeni”

80.Institute of Public Policies

81.Foundation for Advancement of Moldova

82.”Interaction”

83.Foundation for Education and Advancement of Moldova

84.AEGEE-Chișinău

85.Centre of Innovation and Policies from Moldova

86.„VESTA” Gagauzia Regional Association

87.European Centre for Social Initiatives “Stalker”

88.Platform for Active Citizenship and Partnership for Human Rights CAP

89.Labour Institute

90.National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova

91.Federation of Trade Unions in Construction and Construction Materials Industry SINDICONS

92.National Trade Union Confederation „SĂNĂTATEA” din RM

18 lawyers and trainee lawyers were trained in the field ofmedia law in order to offer timely and quality legal services to the journalists from the Republic of Moldova. They participated in a program training conducted in Chișinău during July-November 2020 by the Legal Resources Centre from Moldova (LRCM) in cooperation with the Independent Journalism Centre from Moldova (IJC).

The training program for lawyers and trainee lawyers in the field of media law is a response to the urgent need to represent and defend the rights and interests of the media in the Republic of Moldova that encounter flagrant violations of their rights. Together with lawyers, a group of journalists participated in some trainings, sharing the existing challenges and issues of their professional life.

 „Nowadays, the world is invaded by fake news, violations of freedom of expression. Especially, in these times it is vital to have a committed and independent media. There is a stringent need for competent lawyers that can defend media’s rights. I hope that the lawyers that participated in this program will use the acquired skills and knowledge for protection of democratic values”, mentioned Adam AMBERG, Head of the Cooperation Department within the Embassy of Sweden in Chișinău.

„In my practice as a lawyer I had cases where I had to defend media representatives. Even with my experience, I learned new things, because the jurisprudence is constantly updating. I hope that journalists will contact me for further collaboration and I will apply the knowledge acquired here”, said Alexei CROITOR, lawyer from Chișinău.

„Due to the fact that Ziarul de Gardă is specialised in writing investigations, our team is often facing attacks or sued in court. This program was very useful, because, as a journalist, I will know better how I can defend my rights. I think in the future, our team will collaborate with the lawyers from this program. It would be great if such trainings continue, because the legislation and the state of affairs are constantly changing”, mentioned Corina ȘEREMET, journalist from Ziarul de Gardă.

„The independent media in the Republic of Moldova rarely afford to hire a lawyer to represent their interests. This is why the local press often search for legal assistance at the IJC. The IJC provides free consultations on issues related to media legislation, and in cases of public interest - representation in court. However, the capacities of the IJC are often conditioned by the small number of lawyers specialized in the field of media law. I hope that the lawyers participating in this training program will collaborate with IJC in order to defend the rights of media representatives”, said Anastasia NANI, Deputy Director of the IJC.

„When freedom of expression is in danger, it is imperative to support and protect media, contributing to a functioning democracy. The LRCM organized this training program to facilitate the future collaboration and share of experience between lawyers and media representatives. After this program, lawyers could offer professional legal assistance to journalists from the Republic of Moldova”, mentioned Vladislav GRIBINCEA, Executive Director of the LRCM.

Trainers of the program specialized in media law were national and international experts: Vladislav GRIBINCEA, lawyer and Executive Director of the LRCM; Dragoș CUCEREANU, ECHR Registry lawyer; Eugeniu RÎBCA, jurist and expert in media law; Bogdan MANOLEA, Executive Director of the Association  for Technology and Internet from Romania; and Galina ARAPOVA, expert in freedom of expression from Russia.

The training of the program addressed the following topics:

1. Freedom of expression, principles and restrictions (July 31, 2020)
2. Defamation/ defence of honour and dignity, the right to intimate, family and private life (4-5 September 2020)
3. Access to information of public interest and protection of personal data (1-2 October 2020)
4. Relations between the press and the Audiovisual Coordinating Council (30 October 2020)
5. Media guarantees in contravention and criminal proceedings (November 27, 2020)

The program was organized in the framework of the project „Institutional support for organizational development” implemented by the LRCM and funded by Sweden.