The Eastern Partnership Programme (EPP) team has returned from a successful round of seminars on “Equality Issues” in Chisinau, Comrat and Tiraspol.
Organizers were pleased to witness active discussion among attendees and welcomed participants from local media, the international community, academia, NGOs, equality bodies and central and local government, as well as numerous minority organizations in the region.
Chisinau
The ECMI EPP core seminars on equality issues took place in Chisinau on 12-13 May in cooperation with the Bureau of Interethnic Relations. Among the attendees, 12 members of the working group and 42 participants were present.
Following presentations delivered during the seminar, lecturers engaged in lively discussions with participants on issues ranging from:
- education
- language rights
- hate speech
- the politicization of implementing laws on minority rights
- cultural rights; and
- whether discrimination is even acknowledge in certain contexts.
Participants also stressed the need for further discussion on the capacities of equality bodies and recommended that different public bodies coordinate activities to counter discrimination.
Comrat
Within this round of seminars, the first regional seminar on equality issues took place in Comrat on 15 May in cooperation with the NGO Centre of Socio-Cultural Development and Cooperation.
During the seminar, Dr. Alexander Osipov introduced the general aspects of antidiscrimination norms of the EU and presented the Georgian situation to the 30 participants present.
Seminar participants discussed topics ranging from the Moldovan Law on Equality, how issues on discrimination are addressed by the Ombudsman institution of Moldova and the growth of new Diasporas in Moldova. Among other issues, participants stressed the need to focus on the capabilities of equality bodies and emphasized the importance of ensuring the competences of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia.
Tiraspol
On 18 May, 42 participants attended the regional seminar at the Transnistrian State University.
Two lectures were delivered during the seminar:
- “Discrimination Prevention under the Law: Georgian example”, Ana Kvachadze, representative of Equality Department of Ombudsman Office in Georgia
- “The Mechanisms of ensuring equality and participation – the case of Georgia”, Bella Osipova, Executive Secretary of the Council on National Minorities, representing also the Centre of Tolerance and Civic Integration of Ombudsman Office in Georgia
Minority issues, activists’ rights, equality and the changing demographic composition of the region were some of the issues raised by seminar participants. Finally, some participants stressed the need for the preferential treatment of small minorities.
Find more information on the EPP on their website
Source: ECMI InfoChannel @ European Centre for Minority Issues.
