The Republic of Moldova received 46 recommendations from 41 states on the need to protect women’s rights and to ensure gender equality. The recommendations were provided within the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and the Republic of Moldova accepted them, which means that the authorities will have four and a half years to implement them, in order to improve the situation in respecting women’s rights.
As related to the respect of women’s rights, the countries recommended Moldovan authorities to take firm measures especially in combating the phenomenon of domestic violence and sexual violence, including efficient punishment of aggressors.
Montenegro, Belgium, Spain, Sweden, Slovenia, Italy, Turkey and Bosnia and Herzegovina insisted that the Republic of Moldova should ratify the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence. Mexico recommended Moldova to improve its measures of preventing, punishing and eradicating violence against women, but also to make everything possible to eliminate patriarchal stereotypes. While Austria insisted that it is absolutely necessary for Moldova to continue the public awareness campaigns on domestic violence and to create temporary shelters for victims of domestic violence, including in rural areas.
Estonian authorities recommended the Republic of Moldova to ensure effective criminal investigation in cases of violence against women. As for the need of combating the domestic violence phenomenon in the Republic of Moldova, recommendations were given by Italy, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Chile, Canada, the Republic of Belarus, Paraguay, Algeria, Switzerland, the United States of America, Kirgizstan and other UN member states.
At the same time, some recommendations provided referred to another aspects, in addition to domestic violence, which will be submitted to the attention of Moldovan authorities, in order to ensure the respect of women’s rights. Thus, following the recommendations from Hungary, the Republic of Moldova engaged in encouraging young women to choose less traditional fields of study and professions. Greece recommended consolidating the presence of women in Parliament and Government, and Costa Rica, Timor-Leste and Panama recommended Moldova to double its efforts in eliminating stereotypes and gender based discrimination in the education system.
It should be mentioned that in 2016 the International Center “La Strada” along with other Non-Governmental Organizations in the field also submitted an alternative report in the context of the Universal Periodic Review. The document developed by the civil society representatives offers details about specific engagements taken by the Republic of Moldova four years ago, in relation to which authorities took no action. In this regard, a set of recommendations was provided for the following actions.
Representatives of non-governmental organizations in the field recommend forbidding by law the “reconciliation agreements” in cases of sexual violence, monitoring the effectiveness of the law on domestic violence, but also modifying the legal framework so that the violation of the protection order is punished including under the criminal aspect.
Domestic violence and sexual violence are systematic and wide-spread problems in Moldova. Estimations show that 63.4% of women and girls aged over 15 experienced at least one form of physical, psychological or sexual violence during their life, violence phenomenon being more spread in the rural area. At the same time, 27.7% of men and 17.5% of women believe that a woman should tolerate violence in order to keep her family, and 41.1% of men believe that there are moments when a woman must be beaten. As for the sexual violence, statistics indicate that one in five men had sex with a woman against her will.
Currently, on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, women victims of domestic violence of any type can call for free and confidentially the Trust Line at 0 8008 8008. This service was launched in November 2009 and is provided by the International Center “La Strada”.