In 2015, Moldova celebrated its five-yearanniversary[1] since the ratification of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Throughout all these years, the Ombudsperson Institution has constantly shown interest and concern about the problems faced by the persons with disabilities, who are sometimes disadvantaged and marginalised because of the lower level of independence and lower access to public services, including to the labour market, education, etc. Within the international conference[2]organised by the Ombudsperson Office on July 9-10, 2015, participants exchanged opinions about the progress in the implementation of the Convention in the Republic of Moldova and about what is still to be done in this area; they also made suggestions and recommendations for addressing various existing problems concerning the persons with disabilities.

Although during the period post-ratification of the Convention,Moldova has made progress in promoting the policies, developing programs adjusted to the international standards in this area, a lot is still to be done in terms of the efficient implementation of the legal provisions. Despite the measures undertaken, people with disabilities continue to face barriers in participation as equal members of the society, since their rights are often violated. Most of the issues highlighted in the previous reports are still unresolved for objective reasons – the lack of financial resources or time, or for subjective reasons, such as the slow progress in changing attitudes. Therefore, such problems as the barriers in realising the rights and fundamental freedoms (right to vote, access to justice, etc.); low accessibility of social infrastructure, transportation, and information environment; insufficient social services at community level; low level of employment and motivation for employing persons with disabilities; social benefits beyond the minimum subsistence level  were faced in 20015 as well.

In this Report, the Ombudsman recommends repeatedly amending Article 51 of the Constitution of Moldova to bring it in line with the standards of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, specifically replacing the term used[3]and changing the approach towards persons with disabilities from the medical to the inclusive one. 

During the meetings with the civil society, organised by the Ombudsman, it was underscored that the authorities have to make consolidated efforts in order to ensure the functionality of the laws approved and to monitor their implementation.In particular, the participants in the event of May 5, 2015[4]called upon the central and local public authorities to strictly monitor the observance of the provisions of Law No.60 of 30.03.2012 on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities, which requires ensuring accessibility facilities adjusted to the needs of the persons with disabilities, particularly for the new buildings, before they are put into service.

The issue of limited access of this category of people to social infrastructure, raised by the ombudspersons years in a row,is still topical. Persons with mobility impairments and those with visual and hearing impairments face big difficulties in fulfilling their rights. Because of the lack or improper condition of access facilities to the public utility institutions, residential buildings, as well as the inaccessibility of the urban and inter-urban public transportation, including taxi services, these people remain isolated in their dwellings or they are helpless because they depend on a third person in order to move.

According to the non-governmental organisations for protection of the rights of persons with disabilities, the standard norms in construction approved by the Ministry of Regional Development and Constructionare not in line with the international standards, particularly with regard to the persons with vision impairment. Moreover, the subdivisions of the said ministry do not monitor the observance of the accessibility norms. In this light, we consider it necessary to adopt a mechanism for accountability/sanctioning for the failure to observe the accessibility requirements and for assessment of old buildings in terms of accessibility.

The Ombudsperson Institution has assessed the level of implementation of the Action Plan for implementation of the Measures to Ensure Accessibility of Persons with Disability to the Social Infrastructure[5], which contained specific short-term actions, responsible authorities, and well-set indicators. The results of assessment were not the desired ones - it was establishedthat no significant changes there have been madein terms of accessibility.

Access of persons with sensorial disabilities to information is limited (sign language interpreting on the TV stations is not ensured as much as need, and information of public interest is not translated in the Braille language).

The Broadcasting Code[6]stipulates that broadcasters must secure sign language interpreting of TV programs of major importance and newscasts, in order to provide access for people with hearing impairments (the deaf). The guaranteed time of at least 20 minutes interpreted to the sign language out of the daily airtime is insufficient. With this in view, the Ombudsperson recommends the Broadcast Coordination Council to consider revising the legal provisions to increase the time during which sign language interpretingis ensured and to monitor the observance of this requirement by all broadcasters.

The Ombudsman welcomes the adoption[7]of the Regulation on Provision of Communication Services Using the Sign Language through Interpreter. At the same time, the Ombudsman urgesfor the improvement of the Regulation so that it responds fully to the needs of this category of people. The Ombudsman recommends the Ministry of Education and other competent authorities to work with the Association of the Deaf to establish an official sign language that could be accepted, in order to ensure the training of the persons with hearing disabilities, to develop handbooks and to train sign language interpreters. According to the data provided by non-governmental organisations in this field, there are only 9 authorised sign language interpreters in Moldova for about 5000people with disabilities. Obviously, they are not able to satisfy all the interpreting requests, which leads to significant limitation of persons with hearing disabilities in fully enjoying their rights.  

In this Report, the Ombudsperson points out repeatedly the problems in terms of development of community services for persons with disabilities and monitoring the existing ones.Such problems are also generated by the fact that the organisation and operation of the said services is often attributed to the local public authorities (LPAs) and associations, while LPAs invoke the lack of financial resources. Being short of money, local public authorities are unable to create or have difficulties supporting social services in order to provide the needed support to all persons at risk; such services are developed based on the available financial resources rather than the existing needs. Consequently, access of persons with disabilities to social services that could supporttheir full integration in the society is still limited.

During the reporting year, a number of non-governmental organisations in the protection of persons with disabilities notified the Ombudsman about the faulty implementation and operation of the social service ”Personal Assistance”[8]. According to the data provided by the Social Assistance Centre, Public Association ”Casa Sperantelor” (House of Hope),in Sorocaraion alone approximately 240 people with serious disabilities are eligible for this service, however, due to the lack of financial resources, local public authorities did not start the evaluation procedure for these individuals. According to the data submitted by other 19 nongovernmental organisations, the number of requests for such service exceeds significantly the number of requests satisfied, in most raions: the number of persons with severe disabilities is 27 625, while the number of personal assistants hired is1892.

This issues has frequently been raised in the complaints filed by the persons with disabilities to the Ombudsperson. This leads to the conclusion that people responsible for social protection, particularly social assistants, make insufficient efforts to facilitate independent living and social integration of persons with disabilities. In this context, the Ombudsman recommends to the people responsible for social protection, implicitly the social assistants in the local communities, to make all efforts and diligence to examine and solve the problems faced by the persons with disabilities. It is important that, before a personal assistant is hired, record of the persons with serious disabilities is kept and alternative services are identifiedfor them.

The problem with the collection of desegregated statistics about the persons with disabilities, broken down by type of impairment, both at central and local level, and ensuring public access to such data is still unresolved. Such recordkeeping is required for the evaluation, initiation and changing of the public policy in this area.

The amount of disability pensions is under the minimum subsistence level; social benefits provided by the state are also extremely small. Actually, altogether, the social payments from which a person with disabilities may benefit, do not cover the minimum subsistence level established by the National Bureau of Statistics. Therefore, the majority of people with disabilities live in poverty.

Table

The ratio of the minimal subsistence level per person to the average social benefit established for persons with disabilities

In 2015, the Ombudsperson Office conducted an evaluation[9]of the status of persons in detention and the situation is alarming. According to the data of the Department for Penitentiary Institutions, about 3% of the number of detainees are people with disabilities (207). Of them,  29% have mobility impairments (59),  25% sensorial impairments (52) and 46% - other types of impairments (96). During the evaluation, a number of gaps in terms of realisation of the rights of detainees with disabilities were identified.

The problems found relate to the failure to adjust or the lack of rooms specially set up for the detainees with mobility impairments; lack of attendants in the staff, who could provide care to the convicts with disabilities. Other problems identified are the insufficient supply of medicines and lack of diagnosis services within the public healthcare facilities designed for the detainees with disabilities; lack of glasses and hearing aids for the detainees with hearing and vision impairments; persons suffering from diabetes mellitus do not benefit from a ”glucometer” to verify their blood sugar level on a daily basis. In order to redress this situation, the Ombudsperson made a number of recommendations to the line authorities, aimed to secure the rights and fundamental freedoms of the persons with disabilities detained in the penitentiary system.

Although 43 units were established within the National Employment Agency to facilitate employment of people with disabilities, this still remains a serious problem, even though Law No. 60 provides expressly[10]for the establishment or reservation of jobs and the employment of persons with disabilities by employers, regardless of the legal organisational form of the latter. Enforcement of these provisions if difficult because the implementation mechanisms have not been established.

In the opinion of the Ombudsman, in order to facilitate this process, it is advisable to set up some fiscal or other type of incentives for the employers who hire people with disabilities. Providing opportunities for employment of people with disabilities and informing them about the existing opportunities would contribute to partly solving their financial problems and would provide additional revenues to the national budget.

Equality before law is a fundamental principle of international law. The right to equal recognition before law implies that the legal capacity is a universal feature belonging to all humans, and is applied to the persons with disability equally. In particular, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[11]has underscored that, in order to fully realize the equal recognition of legal capacity in all aspects of life, it is important to recognize the legal capacity of persons with disabilities in public and political life. This means that a person’s decision-making ability cannot be a justification for any exclusion of persons with disabilities from exercising their political rights, including the right to vote and the right to stand for election.

In this context, the Ombudsman reiterates that the state has to secure enforcement of Article 12 of the UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, particularly by approving the proposals for amendment of the regulatory framework developed by the Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family: excluding letter b) of paragraph 1 of Article 13 of the Election Code, which forbids the right to vote for persons who are recognised as incapable by final court judgement.

   In Article 33, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes expressly the obligation for the states party to monitor the implementation of the Convention. However, so far,no independent mechanism has been established to promote, protect and monitor implementation of the Convention, in accordance with paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 33 of the Convention.

The ombudsman mentions the decisive role of the central and local public authorities (LPAs) in solving a number of problems related to the persons with disabilities. LPAs should make all efforts to establish the mechanisms for enforcement of the existing regulatory framework, to monitor its implementation, by involving and consulting the persons with disabilities and the non-governmental organisations representing such persons.

Recommendations:

• Amend Article 51 of the Constitution of Moldova to adjust it to the standards of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, by replacingthe term used and including provisions to facilitate social inclusion of persons with disabilities, among others. 
• Revise the standard norms in construction to adjust them to the international standards for accessibility and establish an efficient mechanism for monitoring and imposing sanctions for failure to abide by the accessibility requirements.
• The Broadcast Coordinating Council should oversee the observance by all broadcasters of the requirement to secure sign language interpreting for TV programs of major importance and newscasts and to consider revising the legal provisions to increase the guaranteed 20 minutes of airtime interpreted.
• The Ministry of Education and other competent authorities should work with the Association of the Deaf to consider the establishment of an official sign language and provide training to the persons with hearing impairment; develop handbooks, and train sign language interpreters.
• Develop community social service based on the needs and consider revising the way of funding, as well as monitoring the use of resources and the quality of services provided.
• Speed up the adoption of amendments to the regulatory framework to bring it in line with the standards set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,by, among others, excluding the provisions, which forbid the realisation of the right to vote for the persons recognised as incapable by a final court decision.
• Consider establishing an independent legal mechanism for monitoring the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in accordance with its paragraph 2 and 3, Article 33.

• The responsible central and local public authorities should take specific measures tosecure the implementation of thelegal provisions on ensuringaccessibility of the social infrastructure, the public transportation means, etc. for the persons with disabilities.

• The Ministry of Labour, Social Protection and Family jointly with the Ministry of Health should create a desegregated database of persons with disabilities, with a breakdown by type of impairment; to establish the way of interaction, and to ensure public access to such data.
• Establish mechanisms for implementation of the provisions of Art.34 of the Law on Social Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities No.60 of 30.03.2012, by, among others, identifying the mechanisms to stimulate employers hiring persons with disabilities in order to facilitate labour inclusion of the latter.