On 26 April 2018, the Council of Europe (CoE) announced the launching of a new programme, “Promoting a human rights compliant criminal justice system in the Republic of Moldova.” In the framework of continued assistance to the authorities of the Republic of Moldova and with funding from the Norwegian Government, the programme will provide technical assistance to the Republic of Moldova to achieve greater compliance with European standards.

As presented at the launch event, opened by Eva Gutjahr, Acting Head of Council of Europe Chisinau Office, this three-year programme aims at ensuring a higher respect for human rights and the rule of law by assisting the national authorities in building up an efficiently functioning criminal justice system, in line with European human rights standards, and based on the principles of humanisation, resocialisation and restorative justice.

“Since mid-2000s the Council of Europe has successfully assisted the Republic of Moldova in a number of the reforms in the justice and human rights areas, inter alia through several cooperation programmes. This new programme constitutes a part of the CoE-Moldova action plan for 2017-2020, in line with its strategic directions, and at the same time provides for a follow-up and synergy to the Norwegian Mission of Rule of Law Advisers to Moldova (NORLAM) past 10-year action in the Republic of Moldova,” explains Eva Gutjahr in her welcoming speech.

The efforts put into the reform processes were undoubtedly recognised by the Norwegian Government: “We appreciate the long-standing co-operation with the Republic of Moldova in the areas of justice, fight against corruption and trafficking and others, and we will continue to support both the country and the CoE,” highlighted Tor Martin Møller, Deputy Director of the Division for Russia, Eurasia and Regional Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway.

In addition, the launch event included interventions of the representatives of the Moldovan authorities that would benefit from the achievements and who highlighted the importance of the programme and confirmed their institution’s commitment to its successful implementation.

Anatolie Munteanu, General State Secretary, and Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Moldova, welcomed this initiative and believes the programme is of high importance, especially since it reflects the current needs of the Republic of Moldova in the field of criminal justice: “We consider the programme as being a comprehensive one that proposes to tackle all justice sector actors and relevant areas providing not only for policy level interventions, but also for consolidation the capacities of the beneficiary institutions.”

Further on the event continued with the first Steering Committee meeting which focused on the programme’s both General and Annual Work Plans and on the main intervention areas , such as policy/legal framework, and institutional and practical implementation levels, to be covered under the two Components, and having an emphasis on:

Consolidation of criminal justice policy, legislation and judiciary practice in line with principles of humanisation, resocialisation and restorative justice and compliance with European standards in this regard;

Better treatment and resocialisation of inmates by improving the regulatory and policy framework as well as prison staff capacities relevant to regime arrangements and management of prisons;

Support towards the development of the capacities of criminal justice stakeholders in the light of the implementation of the on-going reforms, including judiciary, prosecution service, as well as Ombudsperson’s institution and National Prevention Mechanism (NPM).

More information on the Programme is available here.