Petition regarding the Public Contest for the Selection of Candidates for the Membership in the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality[EN]
Minutes of the session on 02.27.2013 for the selection of members for the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality[EN]
Demers cu privire la concursul public pentru selectarea candidaţilor la funcţia de membru al Consiliului pentru prevenirea şi eliminare dicriminării şi asigurarea egalităţii[RO]
Minutele Şedinţei din 27.02.2013 de selectare a membrilor Consiliului pentru prevenirea şi eliminare dicriminării şi asigurarea egalităţii[RO]
Demers cu privire la concursul public pentru selectarea candidaţilor la funcţia de membru al Consiliului pentru prevenirea şi eliminare dicriminării şi asigurarea egalităţii[RU]
Minutele Sedintei din 27.02.2013 de selectare a membrilor Consiliului pentru prevenirea si eliminare dicriminarii si asigurarea egalitatii[RU]
Petition regarding the Public Contest for the Selection of Candidates for the Membership in the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality
To the Special Committee organizing and conducting the public contest for the selection of candidates for the membership in the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality
Chisinau, March 1st, 2013
Dear members of the Special Committee,
By this petition, we reiterate our conviction to maintain a stable and effective dialogue in the selection of candidates for the membership in the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality.
In this context, given that Moldova is already seriously behind the schedule of implementation of the Law on Ensuring Equality, the delay in the selection of candidates (both at the pre-selection stage on 12.02.2013, when 3 out of the 8 candidates were rejected, as well as at the interview stage on 27.02.2013, by rejecting the 3 out of the 5 remaining candidates) creates a major gap in terms of bringing the domestic legal framework in line with international standards and the institutional launch of the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality.
Meanwhile, the civil society representatives who participated at the interviews on 27.02.2013 got a general perception of mistrust regarding the existence of an objective evaluation system applied by the members of the Special Committee. Thus, irrelevant, challenging, confusing and biased questions were often asked, while some of them, including the post-interview comments, were even discriminatory, which damages the quality and efficiency of the organization and conduct of this contest and reveals the subjective and biased attitude of some members of the Committee.
Conditions of participation in the selection process, although they were advertised as being equal for all, do not seem to correspond to the procedures and best practices for conducting a contest. Special Committee members did not have an interview guide prepared in advance with general questions for all participants, and the highest risk of this situation was the subjectivity of decisions regarding the results obtained by the participants in the contest. Not all candidates had equal opportunities, because the interviews were conducted in a random manner and the questions were formulated discriminatorily. These facts delegitimize the entire process and, eventually, the authority of the future council.
Confusing and random questions, formulated on the basis of the personality of the candidates and not their activity, show obvious gaps in the preparation for conducting interviews. The rules of conduct of the interview are not clear, and the manner of interpretation and assessment of the data received from the participants in the selection of members for the Council is totally confusing. The above situation resulted in: the presence of a significant number of subjective and debatable questions; no moderation, reformulation and filtration by the chairman of the Special Committee of incorrect questions asked by the Committee members; manifestly erroneous interpretation of candidates’ responses (e.g. on future collaboration of members with NGOs, involvement of members in shaping the public opinion, the meaning of “homophobia,” etc.).
Examples of why we came to the above conclusions:
1. Question by the member Lilian Zaporojan to the candidate Doina Ioana Straisteanu: The absence of women in leadership may not necessarily be discrimination. Maybe it is convenient to women? Or questions by members Raisa Apolschi and Elena Frumosu: The Pro-Familia Association has a negative opinion of you: according to them, you openly promoted the rights of some minorities and expressed negative beliefs towards other minorities and even majorities. Is their impression subjective? What do you say?
2. Question by the member Lilian Zaporojan to the candidate Serghei Ostaf: How as a member of the Council you will not be able to express your opinion about the Alliance?
3. Question by the member Lilian Zaporojan to the candidate Veronica Mihailov-Moraru: How is it that the emphasis in our society is on the issue of several thousands of gay families, and not on the tens of thousands of persons with disabilities, who even have no access to shops and central public institutions? Or, Raisa Apolschii reiterated that this candidate claimed that the Labor Code was discriminatory and insisted on this fact, although she made references to the labor legislation and practice of employment.
4. Question by the member Raisa Apolschi to the candidate Nicolae Radita: Do you give priority to the ethnicity you represent? How objective will be you when examining complaints concerning discrimination of the Roma when compared to other ethnic groups ?
Or, the question by the member Lilian Zaporojan in the context of a discussion about stereotypes about the Roma: Who prevented you from obtaining higher education? I see you have a higher education degree.
5. Question by the member Lilian Zaporojan to the candidate Oxana Gumennaya: How tolerant should be society with those who raped and killed children? How to compensate for the loss of a child?
We strongly believe that high professionalism or civic activism in human rights was demonstrated by all candidates proposed by various organizations promoting human rights, who also had broad support of other organizations, while some of them have been well-known, recognized and successful in this field, including discrimination, for over 10 years.
In this respect, we insist on drawing reasoned opinions for every candidate admitted and rejected by the Special Committee, following both pre-selection and interviews, and on ensuring the transparency of these documents by posting them immediately on the Parliament’s website.
Simultaneously, we strongly suggest to the Special Committee to present the selected candidates as soon as possible for confirmation by the Parliament, so as to begin urgently the creation of the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality.
To enhance the quality of the organization and conduct of public contests, we request clear rules to be set for public contests organized by the Parliament so as to exclude their ambiguous and distorted interpretations and to minimize the risks of failure.
We note in this regard the need to initiate the development of a detailed framework regulation on the organization of public contests by the Parliament and on the manner of interviewing candidates. We reiterate our willingness to contribute to the development of this regulation.
With the highest considerations,
For more information please contact:
- Ion Schidu,
Assistant of the Justice and Human Rights Working Group, National Council for Participation, telephone 244 911, extension 18; mobile telephone 069 096 689, or e-mail ionschidu@gmail.com;
- Ana Furtuna,
Project Coordinator, Nondiscrimination Coalition, mobile telephone 069627355 or email address ana.furtuna@yahoo.com.
Vanu Jereghi,
Justice and Human Rights Group of the National Council for Participation
Ana Furtuna,
Nondiscrimination Coalition
Olga Bitca,
Consultant, Resource Center for Human Rights
Cristina Pereteatcu,
Amnesty International Moldova
Iulia Marcinschi,
Information Centre on Human Rights
Antonita Fonari,
General Secretary of the National Council of NGOs
Nadejda Hriptievschi,
Legal Resource Center of Moldova
Angela Frolov,
GENDERDOC-M
Lela Metreveli,
Human Rights Embassy
Elena Sajin,
Family Planning Association of Moldova
Elena Lesan,
Program Director, Soros Foundation-Moldova
Appendixes:
1. Petition regarding the Public Contest for the Selection of Candidates for the Membership in the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality
2. Minutes of the session on 02.27.2013 for the selection of members for the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality
Mass Media
http://voxreport.unimedia.info/2013/02/28/sergiu-ostaf-nu-a-trecut-testul-lui-petru-vlah/http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/29986424
http://discriminare.md/actualitate/regulile-de-joc-pentru-candidatii-la-consiliul-nediscriminare-raman-aceleasi/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k159MyqT2_Y#!
http://discriminare.md/analitique/expertii-romani-avertizeaza-despre-pericolul-votului-politic-pentru-consiliul-nediscriminare/
