The Ombudsperson and representatives of the civil society agreed to establish a Council of Experts in the Ombudsperson’s Institution, which will be the bedrock for the Independent Mechanism of Monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

This decision was taken during the second edition of the Ombudsperson’s Discussion Forum of this year. The event was attended by 33 representatives of the civil society, including “Speranta si Sanatate” NGO, Association for the Deaf People of Moldova, Association for the Rehabilitation of Invalids, National Youth Council of Moldova, “Generation with Initiative” NGO, “Junior Achievement” NGO, ICHR, IPA, Amnesty International, “Motivatie” Association, CASPD, CNTM, “Socio-Acces” NGO, Association of Blind People, Union of Organizations for Invalids of Moldova, RCTV ”Memoria”, Promo-LEX Association, Bar Association of Moldova, CPF 50/50, National Center for Roma People. 

A proposed format for the Independent Mechanism of Monitoring the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities was discussed at the forum in order to provide counselling in monitoring the implementation of the aforementioned UN Convention.  Svetlana Rusu, the main consultant of the Ombudsperson, proposed on behalf of the Ombudsperson's Office, to establish a Council of Experts in the Ombudsperson's Office, consisting of representatives of NGOs that promote the human rights of persons with disabilities. The participants accepted the Ombudsperson’s initiative and agreed to meet again sometime by the end of this year to discuss in details the composition of the Council of Experts and the key aspects that should be included in its Regulation. 

The civil society’s opinion on what should be included in the independent report of the Ombudsperson for the 2nd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of 2016 was also consulted during the Discussion Forum.  The participants exchanged their opinions regarding the extent to which the authorities implemented the recommendations included in the 1st cycle of the UPR of December 2011, with NGOs being invited to express their opinions on the key subjects that should be tackled by the independent report for the 2nd cycle of the Universal Periodic Review of 2016 by the Ombudsperson’s Institution.   

Dumitru Roman, main consultant of the Ombudsperson, recalled that information on this topic and a reference to an on-line questionnaire were place about one week ago on the official website of the Ombudsperson's Office and on civic.md and comunicate.md. The participants formulated several proposals on the problems that should be mentioned in the independent report of the Ombudsperson’s Institution. 

Igor Stoica, representative of Amnesty International spoke about the need to eradicate conditions that encourages the inhuman and degrading treatment in the penitentiaries across the country and particularly in Penitentiary No 13, irregularities related to the functioning of the Apprehension Institute in our country, need to improve the Law on Equality and create a National Preventive Mechanism against Torture. 

Vadim Vieru, Promo-LEX representative informed the Ombudsperson about the existing legal problems as regards to the functioning of the judicial police.

Ludmila Popovici, representative of RCTV “Memoria” called for joint efforts of the civil society and Ombudsperson's Office to ensure that all state policies are focused on human rights. Representative of RCTV ”Memoria” spoke about the existing gaps in the rehabilitation of victims.

Eugenia Ganea, NGEP consultant congratulated the Ombudsperson's Office team on the new approaches implemented in relation with NGOs and welcomed the Ombudsperson’s openness to the dialog. The speaker expressed her belief that the Ombudsperson’s Office report will have impact and will be groundbreaking, because the approaches of the institution are new.

Olesea Perean, representative of ICHR proposed to include the problems related to the observance of economic and social rights in the independent report of the Ombudsperson's Office.  In addition, ICHR representative pleaded for the repeated inclusion of the recommendations issued in the 1st cycle of the UPR for our country that were not implemented, and namely recommendations regarding the ratification by our country of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Olesea Perean also added that the Law on Equality must be amended not only with regards to the protected grounds, but also in order to strengthen the sanctioning powers of the Non-Discrimination Council.

Vitalie Mester the representative from the Legal Assistance Center for People with Disabilities reminded to his colleagues from the civil society that the associative sector can also develop and submit a report for UPR. When the UN Committee will review the progress of our country since the previous assessment it will consider the notes made by Ombudsperson and civil society in their reports, said Vitalie Mester.

Ecaterina Mardarovici from the CPE 50/50 drew the attention of Ombudsperson to the problems related to the discrimination of women and elderly and suggested to point them in the independent report.

During the meeting, the Ombudsperson Mihail Cotorobai, reaffirmed his intention to develop the dialogue with the associative sector, emphasizing that the opinion of the civil society is very important for Ombudsperson. Mihail Cotorobai thanked the participants for their ideas and ensured them that they will be taken into account when developing the independent report for UPR of 2016 and Annual Report on Observance of Human Rights in 2015. During the discussions the Ombudsperson made several clarifications and comments and urged the Ombudsperson and associative sector to join their efforts in order to improve the human rights situation.

The second meeting of the Ombudsperson with representatives of NGOs was organized with the support of UNDP Moldova and MFA of Norway and had the aim to strengthen the dialogue established by the new Ombudsperson with representatives of the civil society and to increase the number of Ombudsperson’s partners among NGOs.