[child-rights] Moldova: Over thousand pupils in Transdniestria still without school

CHISINAU, 10 September 2004 - "Ten days after the start of the new school
year, the issue of the Moldovan Latin script schools in Transdniestria is
still not solved," Ambassador William Hill, Head of the OSCE Mission to
Moldova, said today in Chisinau.

Several Moldovan schools teaching the state language in Latin script in
the breakaway region of Transdniestria were closed by the authorities in
July 2004.

"Out of the six schools concerned, two are still closed and all others
lack proper registration and face various difficulties," Hill added.

The Lucian Blaga lyceum in Tiraspol, which was seized by Transdniestrian
milita on 15 July, has not been given a new building. The students at
Evrica lyceum in Ribnita, which Transdniestrian militia stormed on 29
July, still have no access to the new building constructed this year
through finances from Chisinau. Both schools remain closed as a result.

Local authorities in both cities so far have refused to discuss the issue
of opening the schools. A joint appeal signed by the mediators from the
Russian Federation, Ukraine and the OSCE, as well as the Special
Representative of the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in
Moldova, to discuss this issue has remained without response.

The OSCE Mission Head was also concerned about the other four Moldovan
schools which were able to start the school year in time. The lyceum
Alexandru cel Bun in Benderi is still cut off from the electricity network
and remains without heating. Registration of the school is still disputed,
as Transdniestrian authorities refuse to implement the terms of the
agreement mediated between both sides in 2003 by the OSCE.

The boarding school for orphans in Benderi is functioning and has managed
to connect water and electricity supplies without assistance from the
local authorities. The question concerning the status of this school,
however, remains unresolved.

The middle school in Corjevo was temporarily registered on 1 September by
Transdniestrian authorities, but the regional education authorities have
not accepted the statutes of the school, although they had been worked out
in strict accordance with the 2003 agreement.

"I urge Transdniestrian leader Igor Smirnov to implement his promise that
the Moldovan Latin script schools in Transdniestria will be permitted to
register with local authorities, open, and operate normally without any
further delay," Ambassador William Hill concluded.

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