Today Deputy of Chairman of the Government of the PMR for International Cooperation, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the PMR Nina Shtanski participated in the VI Republican Research and Training Conference “Condition and Perspectives of Development of Human Rights Institute in the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic” which was held in the conference hall of T.G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University. The event was organized by Commissioner on Human Rights in the PMR, T.G. Shevchenko PSU, Institute of History, State and Law, the Public Chamber of the PMR.
Participating in the conference also were Deputy Chairman of the Government of the PMR for Social Politics N.G. Nikiforova, Commissioner on Human Rights in the PMR V.A. Kalko, head of Office of Commissioner on Human Rights in the PMR O.L. Belyakov, member of the Presidium of the Public Chamber of the PMR, Chairman of the Union of Moldovans of Pridnestrovie V.A. Tulgara, representative of Commissioner on Human Rights in the PMR on the rights of children and youth Z.G. Kantemirova, representatives of the Government of the PMR, Public Chamber of the PMR, academic community and students.
The problems of observance of human rights in Pridnestrovie within the context of absence of internationally recognized status of Pridnestrovie and internal aspects demanding the optimization in the system of legislation were discussed during the sitting. Particular attention was paid to the problems of protection of children, of reflection of gender equality in legal framework and to interaction of the ombudsman and bodies of state power.
As Nina Shtanski marked in her report, subject area connected with observation of human rights changes “color” depending on the platform where it is discussed. In the context of Pridnestrovie this issue is more acute than in other countries. It is directly connected with the absence of internationally recognized legal status which limits the possibilities for protection of human rights on international platforms.
Diplomat also noted that at the beginning of the 1990's Pridnestrovie was one of the first republics which implemented in its' legislation basic international legal standards on human rights. “At the beginning of 1990's in Russia, Ukraine and other countries of the CIS there were heated discussions which concerned joining one or another international treaty. Pridnestrovie could not directly join international treaty but was striving towards becoming of international participant; that is why the documents of such kind were recognized as framework legal standards or we expressed our adherence to them using particular methods. That led to almost complete implementation of basic international standards into our legislation,” Nina Shtanski said.
During her report the Minister also touched upon the issue connected with the openness of Pridnestrovie for monitoring made in this sphere by international organizations. According to Nina Shtanski, the opinions on this question are ambiguous. However the number of examples which testify positive results of such kind of interaction appeared lately in diplomatic practice.
Nina Shtanski reminded of the report of the UN High Commissioner mentioning that human rights and protection of human rights do not have geographic borders. Human rights must be observed regardless of the territory people are living in. Those international organs that must follow the observation of human rights should not get distracted to settlement or non-settlement of political processes all the more to international legal status of one or another territory.
UN Special Representative for Human Rights in Pridnestrovie Thomas Hammarberg held a monitoring of observance of human rights in the Republic during a year.
Making the outcomes, Thomas Hammarberg noticed that Pridnestrovie faces a number of acute problems in this sphere like all the states in the world. However, the diplomat did not find the problems imputed to Pridnestrovie abroad: international dissension, harassment of national minorities, including minorities according to language factor, closed “Romanian schools” and many other myths. During the meetings held by Thomas Hammarberg in Pridnestrovie he noted one more important moment: “The country which fully observes human rights simply does not exist. The extent to which representatives of power are ready to solve these problems and are opened for dialogue is quite a different matter.”
According to the Minister, the majority of problems in the sphere of human rights in Pridnestrovie are the result of non-settlement of Moldova-Pridnestrovie relations which has a certain negative impact on socio-economical situation in the Republic. “Political non-settlement and ignoring of real processes taking place in Pridnestrovie may also be treated as transnational problem; because it more convenient for many actors to ignore problems existing here and not to accept that they may originate from “double standards,” Nina Shtanski noticed.
Diplomat reported that the problem of activization of socio-economical interaction is one of first-priority directions of the activity of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the PMR. “We are sure that we are not able to guarantee to our people the appropriate extent of development without solving of social and economical problems. We must attract more attention to our work, we must tell our partners about the things on which the fulfillment of the amount of international legal obligations we have to people depends. In this connection we consider that today we should be more open, we should give international experts the possibility to receive first-hand information without intermediaries. This does not insure us against any interpretations, but this gives us more chances to pass the information which is actual part of reality,” the diplomat said. According to Nina Shtanski, one should not forget that the right to development and the right to labor are fundamental human rights. “When people lose their work, the possibility to live a descent life in consequence of blockading of foreign economic activity, the responsibility has global nature because human rights are inalienable and must be strictly observed regardless of political processes taking place in the world and political conjuncture of one or another international actor, state, union, etc.
The problem of observance of human rights does not have any geographical or state legal boundaries,” the Minister made a conclusion.
Practical remarks concerning the improvement of legislative basis of the Republic which is easing the fulfillment of the mechanisms of protection of rights and interests of Pridnestrovian people were made on the outcomes of the meeting.
