The Equality Gender Platform was launched
More than 10 nongovernmental organizations and civic activists created a platform designed to strengthen the efforts of all the players promoting gender quality. One of the objectives of the Platform for Gender Equality, which was presented on July 14, is to promote proposals for the government program in the area of gender equality for 2014-2018, which were included in the Gender Equality Agenda.
In a news conference at IPN, Victoria Apostol, of the Resource Center for Human Rights (CreDO), said the members of the platform aim to promote the participation and balanced representation of women and to contribute to preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence and to also build a favorable environment for ensuring gender equality at work, promoting women’s entrepreneurship and an appropriate institutional framework for ensuring gender equality.
Victoria Apostol stated that given the country’s commitments, the major goal of the platform in 2015 is to obtain the adoption and implementation of the bill to amend and complement legal acts concerning gender equality of 2014 by lobbying and advocacy, awareness-raising campaigns and meetings with the parliamentary commissions and competent ministries.
The platform’s secretary Nina Lozinschi said that by October the platform’s members will stage meetings with the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Parliament and with the head of the parliamentary commission on human rights and interethnic relations so as to discuss the form in which the bill on gender quotas will be approved. Consultations will be held with the Standing Bureau and the parliamentary groups concerning the two bills on gender equality.
There will also be held public debates on the human rights in the EU, with emphasis on the equality between women and men. The Ministry of Labor, Social Protection and Family will be asked to compile a report on the implementation of the provisions on gender equality of the Association Agreement between the EU and Moldova.
Andrei Brighidin, of the East Europe Foundation, said the current situation concerning gender equality in politics and the electoral process is due to the inaction in fulfilling the obligations undertaken by Moldova, including by ratifying international agreements and by adopting relevant national policy documents.
“As the obligations and commitments are not fulfilled, we, the representatives of civil society, can only join efforts and promote this principle,” he stated.
Among the members of the platform are the Women Entrepreneurs’ Association, the Public Association “Promo-LEX”, the Public Association “Gender-Centru”, CreDO, the Women’s Political Club 50/50, deputy head of the National Participation Council Antonita Fonari, and gender trainer Olga Nicolenko.
