PUBLIC APPEAL

REGARDING THE ADDITIONAL 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

  Copy: President of Parliament, chairmen of parliamentary parties

Chisinau, 14 February 2013

Dear members of the Special Committee,

Appreciating the initial openness of 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 (hereinafter – Special Committee) towards the civil society suggestions on how to organize the public contest for the selection of candidates for the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality, an openness that reflects the transparency and dialogue standards imposed by the Paris Principles of the UN regarding the national mechanisms for the protection of human rights,

Repeatedly expressing our dissatisfaction with how contest stages are organized (the pre-selection of candidates and the interview), with how interviews are conducted, and with the lack of reasoned opinions regarding the candidates rejected at the first stage and after the interviews,[1] having also requested a session where the identified problems could be discussed, which was not, however, granted by the Special Committee,

Wishing to contribute to the selection of the most competent members of the Council for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination and Ensuring Equality and to its creation within the shortest time possible,

We respectfully request:

1.      Publication of reasoned opinions regarding the candidates rejected after the first contest, both at the stage of pre-selection and of the interview. Reasoned opinions are highly important for understanding the reasons of rejection and for clarifying whether the rejected candidates could or could not further participate in the additional contest. Without such reasoned opinions the contest appears to be arbitrary.

2.      Publication of the methodology behind the stages of the contest, both for the stage of pre-selection and for the interview, including the procedure of interviewing and evaluating each candidate and the procedure of decision-making regarding the candidates.  In a contest both the process and the result are important. The first contest had been organized highly satisfactorily and in a transparent manner up until the stage of pre-selection. The undersigned especially appreciate express establishment of requirements for candidates and the deadline for submission of applications, publication of candidates’ CVs on the Parliament’s website, request of civil society opinions regarding the candidates, admission of civil society representatives to the pre-selection and the interview. These aspects refer to the process alone. As long as there is no methodology for conducting various stages of the contest or a reasoning of why and how some candidates are chosen and others are rejected, we cannot consider that a contest is successfully organized. We request the abovementioned faults to be removed as soon as possible so as to provide the conditions necessary for a correct process of the additional contest.

For more information please contact:

-           Ion Schidu, Assistant, Working Group Justice and Human Rights of the National Council of Participation, telephone 244 911, ext. 18, mobile telephone 069 096 689, or by email ionschidu@gmail.com;

-          Ana Furtuna, Project Coordinator, Nondiscrimination Coalition, mobile telephone 069627355, or by email ana.furtuna@yahoo.com;

-          Nadejda Hriptievschi, Legal Resource Center of Moldova, mobile telephone 069817237, or by email nhriptievschi@gmail.com.

With the highest considerations,