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The Council of Europe Office in Chisinau Newsletter | February 2021
Versiunea în romană a buletinului informativ poate fi accesată aici
Welcome to the Chisinau Office Newsletter!
Thank you for signing up to keep in touch with the Council of Europe Office in Chisinau. In the Republic of Moldova, every month of the year has, in the popular tradition, a different name than the one we commonly use. February is called the months of “doers” (Făurar). The legend said that this name is due to the traditions of the elders, who prepared their tools for the work they will do in the coming months. “Făurar” represents a border between seasons, a period of transition to a new beginning, the preparation for the revival of nature's life. Similarly, the team of our Office, during this month has conceived many interesting activities, which will lay the foundations for new beginnings. You can see below the highlights. Thank you for being with us and we wish you a pleasant reading!
Second meeting of the Steering Committee of the Council of Europe Project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova
On 25 February 2021, the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova organized the second Steering Committee meeting to bring together the main actors, present the project activities and the results achieved in eleven months of the implementation. Plans for the next months were also presented and discussed.
A strategic approach for the monitoring function of the Moldovan Equality Council
In an online meeting, independent equality and human rights expert Niall Crowley presented the results of a remote assessment of the Monitoring Strategy of the Equality Council for 2021-2023. The monitoring strategy of the Equality Council was drafted as a result of a series of activities aimed at strengthening the monitoring function of the Equality body. These activities included a review of the monitoring mechanisms and instruments as well as workshops for key staff within the Equality Council.
Trainings for doctors on child sexual abuse
In the period of 23 - 25 February 2021 three online trainings for doctors on child sexual abuse identification and reporting were organised by the National Center for Child Abuse Prevention (NCCAP). Around 400 family physicians, paediatricians and gynaecologists from all regions of the country attend the online trainings. The aim of trainings was to raise awareness of medical workers on the psychological and physical signs of child sexual abuse, as well as the ways of identification and reporting of such cases. This activity is part of the grant awarded by the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova to NCCAP.
Prevention and reaction to child sexual abuse in sport
On 17 February 2021, the Council of Europe project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova organised an online meeting on Prevention and reaction to child sexual abuse in sport. The aim of the meeting was to raise awareness among all relevant stakeholders and representatives of the sport area on international and Council of Europe standards related to child sexual abuse prevention and identification with a specific focus on the sport area, as well as national legal context for reporting of such cases. The event contributed towards achieving the Project’s immediate outcome 4 “Improved skills and know-how of professionals to respond to violence against children and promote child-friendly practices”.
Criminal justice system: conclusions of a three-year Council of Europe Programme
A high level conference held on February 17, concluded the 36 months’ Programme “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova” (2018 -2021). The Programme aimed to ensure coherent criminal justice policy through humanization, resocialisation and restorative justice, and to enhance prison management, the provision of health care in prison, and the probation system with a view to the resocialisation of offenders.
Video spot: Preventing and combating torture and ill-treatment is a joint responsibility!
The Council of Europe Programme "Promoting a Human Rights Compliant Criminal Justice System in the Republic of Moldova" (Component 1) has produced an animated video and a leaflet on preventing and combating torture in the Republic of Moldova. They aim at raising public’s awareness on the activity of the Council for Torture Prevention. They also call on reporting torture and ill treatment cases, encourage the victims of torture and ill-treatment to ask for legal protection and urge the public to inform relevant authorities in case of violation of rights and freedoms.
Video presentation: Donation of modern medical equipment and devices to the penitentiary system of the Republic of Moldova
Within the framework of its continued assistance to the justice sector reform, the Council of Europe donated to the prison system of the Republic of Moldova a lot of modern medical equipment and devices worth of 148,888 euro. This represents a major support to the provision of health care services in the penitentiary system in the country. A video about this action can be found at this link.
Webinar for Moldovan integrity inspectors on identification of fictitious transactions and presentation of evidence in court
The integrity inspectors and representatives of the Legal Department of the National Integrity Authority (NIA) of the Republic of Moldova participated in two webinars on “Identification of fictitious transactions and presentation of evidence in court” on 16 and 19 February 2021. During the webinars, the participants considered the methodology applied in identifying fictitious transactions and calculating unjustified wealth and discussed additional steps for effective investigation. The webinar also facilitated discussions on international practices and practical cases and the use of basic open source to support investigations.
The Council of Europe project on audiovisual regulation holds its Steering Committee Meeting
The Council of Europe project “Promoting European standards in the audiovisual regulation of the Republic of Moldova” organised its Steering Committee meeting aimed at discussing key results achieved so far and the activities envisaged in the following timeframe. During the event, the Project staff highlighted a series of accomplishments throughout the implementation phase until February 2021, which include the development of the Newsroom Convergence Strategy and Action Plan for Teleradio-Moldova, two documentaries on social and human rights issues, and the analysis of a series of normative acts adopted by the Audiovisual Council, following the implementation of the new Audiovisual Media Service Code from 2019 onwards.
A Working Group on publishing national judicial statistics comparable to CEPEJ-STAT is developing the concept of this new tool
The Working Group on publishing national judicial statistics conducts regular meetings as of 4 February 2021. At the centre of the discussions is the proposed concept of a national tool called JUSTAT, aimed at publishing relevant data and performance indicators of the judicial system in the Republic of Moldova. The concept is based on the example of CEPEJ-STAT, a platform compiling various data on judicial systems in European countries, collected by the European Commission for the Efficiency of Justice.
Post-electoral review conference
Members of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Moldova (CEC), policy and law makers, representatives of the courts, political parties, international community, media and civil society, local and international observation missions gathered  on 18-19 February 2021 to analyse and discuss the institutional, legal and gender perspectives of improvements following the November 2020 Presidential elections in the Republic of Moldova.
Alternative voting mechanisms: challenges for the Republic of Moldova
Two main internationally recognised alternative voting modalities, namely Internet-voting and postal voting, including yearly voting procedures, were presented by the Council of Europe (CoE) experts to representatives of the Central Electoral Commission of the Republic of Moldova (CEC), the Centre for Continuous Electoral Training and the Public Service Agency. CoE experts highlighted advantages, disadvantages as well as new trends and indicated specific countries using or having used such systems, for instance the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Estonia, Germany, Romania, France and the USA.
Police officers from the Republic of Moldova will improve their professional abilities in enforcing the legislation and tackling hate crimes and hate speech
The regional project funded by the European Union and co-funded and implemented by the Council of Europe “Strengthening access to justice for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in the Eastern Partnership”, launched the first cycle of training for trainers from the General Police Inspectorate on the themes of equality and non-discrimination.The launching event brought together representatives of the Council of Europe, the European Union Delegation to the Republic of Moldova, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the General Police Inspectorate of the Republic of Moldova, who highlighted the importance of assistance offered by the EU - Council of Europe project towards promoting equality and non-discrimination in the Republic of Moldova.
Webinar on online child sexual abuse for police, judges and prosecutors
The Council of Europe regional project End Online Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse @ Europe and the project on Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova held a webinar on “Introductory session on online child sexual abuse and exploitation (OCSEA)” for police, judges and prosecutors. The Webinar was designed to start building capacities on common priorities while increasing interagency cooperation.
Safer Internet Day
On the occasion of “Safer Internet Day”, the International Centre “La Strada” launched an awareness raising campaign for parents on online risks for children under the grant agreement with the Council of Europe Project Combating violence against children in the Republic of Moldova. The campaign has been implemented throughout the month of February and numerous informative activities for parents have been organised. The aim of the activities was to make the parents aware about online risks for children and modalities to prevent them, as well as the intervention measures to be undertaken in cases of online child sexual abuse or exploitation.
Reinforcement of the People’s Advocate Office mandate on examination of complaints and ex officio cases
A three-day training on enhancing the capacity of the People’s Advocate Office to examine complaints more quickly and efficiently was carried out online on 3-5 February 2021. The training included practical exercises and case studies related to the process of examining a complaint, the rules of procedure applied in the process of examining the complaints and ex officio cases.
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Council of Europe Office in Chisinau
63, Vlaicu Parcalab Str.Chisinau, MD-2012
Tel. + 373 (0) 22  202 304
www.coe.int/chisinau
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