[child-rights] CRC 31st Session: OMCT submits alternative report on violence against girls in Moldova

Geneva, 26 September 2002
Press Release
OMCT submits alternative report on violence against
girls in Moldova to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child


The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) expresses its concern
regarding violence against girls in Moldova at the Thirty-first
Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child

The World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) welcomes the
examination by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child of
Moldova's implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
on 27 September 2002. In its alternative country report entitled
"Violence against Girls in Moldova", which has been submitted to the
Committee on the Rights of the Child, OMCT expresses its grave
concern at the widespread violence against girls in the private and
community spheres as well as at the hands of state officials.

While Moldova has engaged itself at the national, regional and
international levels to promote and protect all human rights, there
are many areas in which it has not acted with due diligence to ensure
that these rights are respected and protected. In its report, OMCT
notes that women and girls suffer from entrenched gender
discrimination which makes them particularly vulnerable to violence
in the domestic, community and state spheres.

Domestic violence is reportedly prevalent in Moldova and this
situation is reinforced by the fact that the government has yet to
adopt specific legislation or policies for the prevention and
punishment of this form of violence and for the provision of
protection and assistance to its victims. In addition to the lacunae
in the legislative and policy framework, many law enforcement
personnel, members of the judiciary and other officials appear to
share the prevailing attitude that domestic violence is a "private
matter" which does not necessitate state intervention.

Trafficking in women and girls and violence related to this
trafficking is a serious and increasing problem in the country. Both
age and sex are determinative in relation to vulnerability to
trafficking and as women and girls are particularly affected by
discriminatory social stereotypes, the feminization of poverty and
violence, they are being trafficked in larger numbers than other
groups. The lack of resources devoted by the government to
counter-trafficking initiatives coupled with widespread corruption
and official complicity in the activities of organized criminal
groups have made it virtually impossible for the government to
fulfill its obligations under international law in relation to the
prevention, investigation, prosecution and punishment of trafficking.

There is very little information available concerning the situation
of girls in conflict with the law or on girls in institutional
settings. OMCT is, however, alarmed by the fact that there is no
separate system of juvenile justice in Moldova and that in the
absence of funding for diversionary programmes, many adolescents end
up serving sentences in adult detention facilities where they are
particularly vulnerable to violence and ill treatment. In addition,
the increasing numbers of children who have been made homeless as a
result of adult emigration or family breakdown linked to the economic
crisis in Moldova has lead to a dramatic growth in the number of
children being placed in state-run institutions. The failure of the
government to adopt policies favouring family-based care for these
children has meant that most children in government institutions are
living in conditions that do not meet minimum international
standards.

Overall, OMCT's report concludes that the government of Moldova has
not met its international obligations in relation to the
implementation of the provisions of the Convention on the Rights of
the Child at the national level. OMCT would therefore recommend that
the government take urgent measures to ensure that it meets these
obligations, in particular through the adoption of comprehensive
legislation for the prevention and punishment of domestic violence
and trafficking and through the development of policies for the
prevention and eradication of violence against women and girls at all
levels.


For copies of the alternative report on violence against girls in
Moldova or for further information on OMCT's programme on Violence
against Women please contact the women's desk on + 41 22 809 4939 or
<jb@omct.org>.