TIRASPOL LEADER COMPLAINS TO UNITED NATIONS ABOUT RESTRICTIONS BY NEIGHBOR COUNTRIES

Transnistria constantly suffers all kinds of restrictive measures used against its citizens by neighbor countries, the president of the unrecognized Transnistrian Moldovan Republic (PMR), Yevgeny Shevchuk, stated in Tiraspol on Thursday during his meeting with a United Nations delegation led by UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Flavia Pansieri.

Shevchuk told the high guest, on her first visit to Transnistria, that the new authorities of Ukraine have imposed “discriminating restrictions against Russia citizens residing permanently in the PMR”.

In his words, there are more than 300 facts of denying passage across the Ukrainian border for such Russia citizens. Due to this, the passenger turnover has slumped. Tens of thousand people are refusing to go to Ukraine.

Yevgeny Shevchuk drew the guests’ attention also to the problem of “forcible documentation of Transnistria residents by the Moldovan authorities”.

“Chisinau refuses to provide Transnistrians with certificates that they don’t have the citizenship of Moldova. The absence of such document makes it impossible to obtain the citizenships of other countries [for instance of Russia where dual citizenship is prohibited by law]. Meanwhile, the international law prohibits imposing this or that citizenships on people”, stressed the Transnistrian leader.

Another serious problem, he said, is Moldova’s reluctance to legalize Transnistrian education documents. This restricts the Transnistrian graduates’ right to continue education and look for employment abroad.

“Moldova’s policy is aimed also at suppressing the Transnistrian economy and at restricting the Transnistrian people’s fundamental rights. The Transnistrians’ will must be respected by the international community to an extent not lesser than the will of people living in other parts of the world. The principle of a referendum was laid into the basis of various political decisions – on Gibraltar, Kosovo, Northern Cyprus… We don’t understand such selectivity of attitude. We don’t understand why the Kosovo referendum is welcomed in Europe but Transnistrian referendum results are ignored”, said president Shevchuk.

The UN visitors were interested to learn how Tiraspol is implementing the recommendations of Thomas Hammarberg, the United Nations Senior Expert on Human Rights in Transnistria. Yevgeny Shevchuk said that the Transnistrian administration has approved an action plan that has fixed the main directions requiring attention to improve the situation in the human-right sphere in Transnistria.

According to the Transnistrian presidential press service, Flavia Pansieri “pointed out with satisfaction the measures undertaken to implement the recommendations”, though remarked that a number of problematic directions are remaining, and these need to be worked on.

The United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights stressed that the main thing is to preserve the momentum reached, and to move on without stops.

Infotag’s dossier: United Nations Senior Expert on Human Rights in Transnistria Thomas Hammarberg undertook 3 voyages to Transnistria in 2012, visiting health and education facilities, special institutions, orphanages and asylums, prisons. His report contains 38 recommendations on how to improve the situation in the spheres of treatment of inmates, corruption prevention, public health, education, social protection of children and adults with disabilities.