Statehood of Pridnestrovie as a basis and guarantee of human rights

and freedoms

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is a unique modern state of Europe.

Pridnestrovian road to independence significantly differs from similar processes in
other post-Soviet republics due to the historical and legal prerequisites of statehood.

Until 1917, the territories of modern Moldova and Pridnestrovie were part of
different administrative-territorial units of Russia. After the First World War and the
October Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia became part of Romania, and Pridnestrovie
in 1924 became part of the Ukrainian SSR as the Moldavian Autonomous SSR.
Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Bessarabia was returned to the Soviet Union,
and after that, in 1940, the Moldavian Autonomous SSR (modern Pridnestrovie) was
abolished, and the MSSR was created by attaching Bessarabia to it.

On 23 June 1990, Moldova legally renounced Pridnestrovie, recognizing the

establishment of the MSSR as illegitimate. The situation returned to that of 1940,
when the territory of modern Pridnestrovie was an autonomous republic. Since 1989,
the Moldovan authorities have been pursuing a discriminatory policy on national
and linguistic basis – persons who were not Moldavians and did not speak Romanian
were forced to leave their jobs and change their place of residence.

Moldova acted as a human rights violator: article 1, 2 of the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights, paragraph 2 of article 2 of the International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, article 2 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights: everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms without
distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other
opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

The proclamation of Pridnestrovian statehood on September 2, 1990 was a legal

consequence of the recognition by the Moldovan Parliament of MSSR’s creation as
illegal and was based on the results of the free democratic expression of will by the
people of Pridnestrovie.

The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is a modern state that fully respects the
basic principles of human rights protection. According to the Constitution of the
PMR, a person, their rights and freedoms are the highest value, and their protection
is the duty of the state. Pridnestrovie has unilaterally assumed obligations to comply
with many international treaties defining human rights and freedoms. These include
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants on Civil
and Political, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the European Convention for
the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the Convention on the
Rights of the Child and the World Declaration on the Survival, Protection and

1
Development of Children, etc. A special legal mechanism has been developed to
recognise them as framework of legal standards.

Realizing the high importance of observance of human rights and freedoms to ensure
a decent quality and standard of living of citizens, Pridnestrovie is open to
cooperation in the field of human rights with leading international organizations, in
particular with UN agencies, OSCE, Council of Europe. Such results-oriented
interaction allows involving international organizations in addressing topical issues
in the human rights sphere.

In this context, Pridnestrovie attaches special attention to the missions of UN Special

Rapporteurs – such visits allow presenting Pridnestrovie as a modern state,
committed to the basic principles of human rights protection, ready to modernize the
legislative framework and practices in accordance with international standards.

Pridnestrovie was visited by the Special Rapporteurs of the UN on torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment (Manfred Nowak in 2008 and
2009), on violence against women, its causes and consequences (Yakin Ertürk in
2008), on freedom of religion or belief (Heiner Bielefeldt in 2011 and 2014; his
representative also came in 2012), on extreme poverty and human rights (Magdalena
Sepulveda Carmona in 2013), on the rights of persons with disabilities (Shuaib
Chalklen in 2014 and Catalina Devandas Aguilar in 2015), on minority issues
(Rita Izsák-Ndiaye in 2016) and on the situation of human rights defenders (Michel
Forst in 2018).

The visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay to
Pridnestrovie in November 2011 gave a strong impetus to the development of
international cooperation in the field of human rights. During her visit, Navi Pillay
expressed concern that some regions of the world do not have direct access to
international organizations and cannot sufficiently inform the international
community about the situation with the protection of human rights. She noted that
her mandate implies the protection of the rights of all people regardless of any
borders, which means that she must protect Pridnestrovians along with all.

The visit of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights resulted in substantially
increased attention of UN agencies to Pridnestrovie and Thomas Hammarberg’s
appointment as a Senior UN Human Rights Expert in Pridnestrovie in 2012. The
expert’s mission aimed at a large-scale review of the human rights situation,
presented in detail in the 2013 Report on Human Rights in Pridnestrovie, and
identified topical areas of further work: all subsequent projects and programs of UN
agencies have been based on the recommendations of the expert, and Pridnestrovie
developed an action plan for their implementation.

United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri and
Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović visited Pridnestrovie
2
in 2014 and in 2016 respectively to review the implementation of the expert’s
recommendations.

Within a few years since the first mission of T. Hammarberg, much has been done,
especially in the areas of health, social protection, justice, with both international
support and domestic resources. In general, we can say that Pridnestrovie has
advanced on 20 of the 38 recommendations of Thomas Hammarberg.

Speaking about the achievements, I should note the success in the field of health –
the most extensive field in terms of the volume of work in cooperation with
international organizations: comprehensive work has been carried out to improve the
efficiency of the system, legislative initiatives are submitted, modern standards and
protocols are introduced, and the professional level of specialists is improving. New
medical equipment and ambulances have been purchased, medical facilities have
been built.

A new level of perinatology and immunization was reached with the support of
WHO, UNDP and UNICEF. A cold chain was created for safe delivery of immune
drugs to the Republic. There are modern perinatal centers throughout the Republic.

Special attention is paid to the fight against tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, providing
patients with the necessary medicines, reducing the risk of perinatal transmission.
Since 2014, the increase in the HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis infection rates among
the population has been stabilized. In the penal system all patients with HIV/AIDS
and tuberculosis receive treatment in full, patients with tuberculosis are separated by
forms and phases of the disease.

The protection of children’s rights is an important area of the state’s work. To date,
the legislative base is created for the institution of the receiving family, as well as a
database of all children left without parental care. There are several family-type
orphanages functioning, preventive measures and programmes implemented for
reintegration of children to families and prevention of the children’s placement in
institutional care.

Activities are underway to ensure and protect the rights of people with disabilities,
in particular, Pridnestrovie declared 2018 the Year of Equal Opportunities. The UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is recognized as a framework
of legal standards, the Law on Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities was
amended to prevent discrimination. Serious work has been done to create a barrier-
free environment and integrate people with disabilities. Day centres for children with
disabilities are functioning in the Republic.

The state is making efforts to improve the conditions in temporary holding facilities
and penal institutions through minor and major repairs of premises and utilities.
Work is underway to adapt convicts to life in society after release: the center for
3
labor rehabilitation of convicts has been operating since 2013, there is also a training
and production workshop for training workers and attracting them to work.

Presenting in 2019 the results of the second mission, held in 2018, T. Hammarberg
noted that there have been tangible positive changes in Pridnestrovie, especially in
the field of social protection, health, and justice. Moreover, the expert commended
the solution, in negotiations with Moldova, of the issue on functioning of Moldovan
Latin script schools, as well as the agreement on apostille procedures in Moldova
for diplomas of T.G. Shevchenko Pridnestrovian State University.

This information and independent analysis by international experts show that

Pridnestrovie is a modern state, making every effort to create conditions for full
respect for human rights and freedoms. The Pridnestrovian statehood was formed in
response to the violation of inalienable human rights by the Republic of Moldova.
Only the established Pridnestrovian statehood does not allow the situation to degrade
to the acute armed confrontation that took place in the early 1990s.

Taking into account almost thirty years of experience of Pridnestrovie’s independent

development, the broad international recognition of this Republic is a reasonable and
necessary step towards the guaranteed and stable protection of the rights and
freedoms of the multinational half-million Pridnestrovian nation.