Representatives of the Equality Council and judges designated by the Superior Council of Magistracy took part in an online roundtable “Fundamental rights in the context of war – freedom of expression and its limitations”.

The exchange between the equality body and the Judiciary was initiated in April 2021, aiming at fostering cooperation in legal matters related to discrimination. It entailed a series of meetings devoted to different topics relevant for the protection from discrimination and equality.

This last event enabled a joint discussion about the newest developments in the case-law of international courts, including the judgments of the European Court of Human Rights on freedom of expression. Participants also had the possibility to get more information about the practice of the National Council for Combating Discrimination of Romania and the cooperation with the national judicial system on anti-discrimination. The equality body as public authority with expertise in non-discrimination can provide useful opinions, based on accumulated practice of the institution and data-base information related to the relevant cases. Those opinions, despite not binding for courts, can still be very useful as they provide information on additional aspects relevant for the protection of victims of discrimination, can contribute to better reasoning of judgments and have an educational role for all relevant actors.

As pointed out by William MASSOLIN, Head of the Council of Europe office in Chisinau, the discussion had an additional value considering the current developments in the region:

Particularly in such challenging times, the co-operation of all actors in the field of anti-discrimination is of utmost importance for the improvement of practices and measures aimed at addressing these hurdles, including combating hate speech especially against vulnerable groups. Your collaboration and joint work contribute to the better protection of victims of discrimination in the Republic of Moldova.

To conclude the event, it was highlighted that the continuation of cooperation among institutions is very important, as well as the systematic discussions on new legal developments, for the benefit of further promotion of non-discrimination, diversity, and equality in the Republic of Moldova and having citizens feeling their rights are protected.

This activity was organised jointly within the European Union and the Council of Europe projects “Strengthening access to justice through non-judicial redress mechanisms for victims of discrimination, hate crime and hate speech in Eastern Partnership countries” and  ”Strengthening the capacities of the justice sector actors to deliver justice in line with European standards, in particular to fight discrimination in the Republic of Moldova”, implemented in the framework of the programme “Partnership for Good Governance II, 2019-2022”.