From Discrimination to Equal Rights: Community Mediators are Better Equipped to Protect the Rights of Roma People
20 September 2016
- 13 community mediators who ensure the communication between the Roma people and authorities took part in a comprehensive human rights training during 12-16 September. They learned how to identify the discrimination cases and help the Roma people to claim their rights, including how to address petitions and application to the mayoralty, court or Equality Council. They are also better equipped with knowledge and skills to help Roma people accessing education, medical services, social assistance and other facilities available in their community.
‘Many mediators do not recognise the discrimination elements and infringements of Roma rights and there are many cases that remain undocumented. After this training, we are better skilled to tackle these cases and solve them, said Silvia Feraru, community mediator in Carpineni village/Hancesti.
During the autumn school organised by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the mediators have developed an Action Plan based on the identified needs that would guide them in protecting and promoting the rights of Roma people. This includes the official employment of 48 mediators in 44 localities, mentoring programmes for new mediators, legislation review, as well as active involvement of mediators in projects to attract funds and community development.
At the end of the training course, the mediators have committed to keep exchanging the experience and best practices on an informal communication platform to act as one voice and make the Roma statement before the authorities and the entire society stronger.
‘The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights will continue to support the empowerment of Roma community mediators. We would like to become a trustworthy partner of the community mediators’ platform to advance together in social inclusion of Roma persons’, said Veaceslav Balan, the National Coordinator of the OHCHR in Moldova.
There are 22 community mediators in the Republic of Moldova. 16 are officially employed and paid from the local public authorities’ budget, and 6 are volunteers. The Roma people want all mediators to be officially employed and have guaranteed paid from the public budget.
According to the 2004 Population Census, 12,778 persons of Roma origin live in the Republic of Moldova, while the Roma activists estimate a number of 200,000. They face discrimination issues and limited access to education, health, social protection and other services. The position of a mediator is very important in fighting discrimination and ensuring equal rights to everyone.
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