UN Moldova announced the winners of the UN Human Rights Awards 2021

Promoting and standing up for human rights is one of the main priorities of the United Nations in Moldova. Beginning with 2004, the UN Country Team in Moldova has annually awarded the best actions to promote and protect human rights on both banks of Nistru river, except for the year 2020 which was marked by a public health emergency – the COVID-19 pandemic.

” The COVID-19 pandemic deepened the already existing sustainable development challenges across every sphere of life, from health to economy, security to social protection, education to labour, and freedom of movement to freedom of expression. It has also taught us a valuable lesson: we cannot build a better future if we do not ensure that human rights are at the heart of our recovery and development efforts.”  mentioned Simon Springett, Resident Coordinator of UN Moldova.

The UN Human Rights competition of 2021 has four awards, the winners of which are as follows:

• General Award for an Outstanding Human Rights Achievement at national level between 2020 and 2021  -  Mrs. Liliana Rotaru, director of CCF Moldova,
• Award for an Outstanding Human Rights Achievement at the local level between 2020 and 2021-  Mrs. Angela Croitor,
• Special award for Outstanding Achievements related to the rights to health, education, labour and/or social protection in the context of COVID-19 pandemic in the period March 2020 to 15 October 2021 –  -   Non-governmental organization “Concordia”,
• Special Award for groups/organizations for active involvement in the promotion of equality and non-discrimination between 2020 and 2021 -   National Coalition „Viață fără violență în familie”/ „Life without violence in family”.

”The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection highly appreciates the efforts of the civil society organizations to defend and promote human rights for every citizen. We are convinced that by joining our efforts we can recover better from the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and further build a better future for all of us.”  declared Tudor Mancaș, general state secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Moldova.

The annual competition „UN Human Rights Awards” is a public, transparent and impartial competition in which every individual or institution can participate by self-nominating or suggesting a nomination in accordance with the categories of awards announced and the regulation of the competition.  

The candidates for the UN Human Rights Awards 2021 have been evaluated against the following criteria:

• Human rights impact;
• Innovation and creativity;
• Dedication and commitment;
• Bravery in addressing difficult themes or issues;
• Outreach and visibility;
• Professionalism and compliance with the highest standards of ethics.

Liliana Rotari, winner of the general award for an outstanding human rights achievement at national level between 2020 and 2021 underlined that: ”CCF Moldova, an institution that I have the honour to lead is by the side of hundreds of families every year. In over 18 years of activity, over 6000 children managed to remain with their families. Frequently human rights for many of our citizens is a luxury and many times they need community’s support to access them. Only when human rights and rights of the child become a norm in our society things will change for better. We shall continue standing by the side of the most important citizens of this country – children.”

The selection panel of the UN Human Rights Awards 2021 included five members - representatives of the UN Office for Human Rights, U.S. Embassy to Chisinau, Equality Council, Amnesty International and Promo-Lex.