Tiraspol Times & Weekly Review, Moldova
Feb 4 2006
European delegates want human rights for PMR’s 555,000 people
"Inhuman rights" are human rights which are trampled by those who are
supposed to defend them. Now, European activists want to change that.
By Karen Ryan, 04/Feb/2007
Tiraspol, 2007: Children growing up in a country which the rest of
Europe says doesn’t exist.TIRASPOL (Tiraspol Times) – A group of
European delegates want to pressure the European Union, Ukraine and
Moldova into observing the human rights of the 555,000 inhabitants of
the nearly seventeen year old Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic
(PMR).
During an international conference in the unrecognized country’s
capital, Tiraspol, a British delegation met with other European human
rights activists and parliamentarians from Ukraine, Russia, and
Moldova.
The conference, entitled `The state’s image and human right
protection: reality, challenges, prospects’, brought together a total
of 302 participants, consisting of international human rights
activists, parliamentarians, diplomats, and academics. Over the
period of two days, from 2 February to 3 February 2007, the mostly
European participants debated ways to improve the human rights
situation of the citizens of Pridnestrovie.
" – The lack of settlement in the conflict between Moldova and
Pridnestrovie affects the image of the Pridnestrovian Moldavian
Republic and results in systematic human rights violations as
economic and political sanctions are imposed on Pridnestrovie," said
the text of the conference’s final resolution, approved unanimously
by all participants.
The conference was held under the aegis of PMR’s Parliament, but was
shunned by the government of neighboring Moldova. Although a small
group of nongovernmental Moldovan human rights activists crossed the
Dniester and took part in the conference, the parliamentary
delegation from Moldova did not show up. The boycott by Moldova took
place despite an specific invitation to Moldova’s parliament and a
desire by the PMR Parliament to improve the often strained bilateral
relations.
Although official Moldovan representatives refused to show, a
delegation from Japan was present, along with representatives from
South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh, a mostly Armenian-populated
country whose independence, like that of Pridnestrovie, is also not
yet recognized.
Equality is for everyone
The basic, underlying principle which guarantees all other human
rights is equal treatment for everyone. But politics and a
manipulation of international law has created a reservation for
unrecognized countries. Like fenced-off territories, they refusal to
face up to reality is resulting in grave human rights violations.
Michael Garner, a researcher and columnist who has previously
contributed to The Tiraspol Times, explains the dire situation of the
555,000 inhabitants of unrecognized Pridnestrovie:
" – Imagine living in a country which is not on the map: You can’t
travel, because officially, you are stateless. Your country is not
recognized and your vote, if you want to cast it, is called illegal
by some of your closest neighbors."
What Garner describes is life for the inhabitants of Pridnestrovie
(also known as Transnistria). Although meeting the requirements for
statehood under international law, its nearly 17 year old claim to
independence is not recognized by its neigbors and its borders are
subject to what is a thinly disguised economic blockade aimed at
forcing them to their knees and to shatter their dreams of statehood.
For two days in Tiraspol in early February, the main focus of 300
international participants was on self-determination as a basic human
right, recalling the words of former US president Woodrow Wilson who
declared that "no people must be forced under a sovereignty under
which it does not wish to live."
" – The way to ensure human rights protection is to threat
Pridnestrovie and its inhabitants like everyone else in Europe:
Recognize their status, and their achievements in nation building.
Bring them into the international framework of NGO participation,
membership of international bodies, and hold it to the highest
possible standards for human rights and minority protection,"
explains Garner.
" – Of course, we need to make sure that Ukraine, Moldova, and the
rest of the world are held to the same high standards. Right now,
this is not the case. They are treating their neighbors in
Pridnestrovie like second class citizens, shutting the door in their
face and not allowing them a real voice in affairs that concern
them."
Time for change and real action
Now, says the statement of the conference, this must change. In
Pridnestrovie, both the Parliament and the Cabinet of Ministers are
ready to engage in serious dialogue with parliamentarians and
non-governmental organizations from neigboring states. The talks will
be action oriented, with an emphasis on tackling economic, social and
humanitarian problems and ensure stable development of the
Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic.
The participants of the conference decided to jointly 1. promote
interparliamentary cooperation to draft a conception on human rights
and freedoms protection;
2. promote cooperation with international human rights organizations;
3. encourage efforts of legislative and executive authorities,
political parties, non-governmental organizations to create a
positive image of PMR; 4. back the initiative to establish an
international experts’ forum for Moldovan-Pridnestrovian conflict
settlement; 5. encourage reporting of human rights and freedoms
protection in Pridnestrovie.
As the world is watching, fresh light is now on Pridnestrovie, and
human rights protection is the responsibility of everyone: Both local
authorities, and the two countries next door – Moldova and Ukraine.